[ExI] new heavy lifter

[spike]

This caught my attention because I have long thought of this approach as
compelling:

 

http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/04/04/6409132-spacex-shoots-for-ne
xt-big-thing

 

It has advantages in structural dynamics to have side-by-side boosters
instead of stacked vertically.  The aerodynamic disadvantage of that
arrangement is more than compensated by weight savings in structural
rigidity.  It has costs in replicating the thrust vector control so many
times, and it has disadvantages in reliability, since the risk of failure in
one or more of the 27 nozzles, but the design can likely tolerate any one
failing, and some pairs, so long as they are not adjacent.

 

spike

 

 

 

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