Quote:
Originally Posted by Thor
Elon Musk said this 2 years ago about this rocket and the contract, sums it up perfectly.
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That's doing the NK-33 engine a dis-service. Elon is just being a snarky businessman against his competitor. I'm surprised he didn't start with "It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know..." These are top in the upper echelon of thrust to weight ratio for engines and were designed around a technology the Americans never explored. Being that the USSR manufactured hundreds of them and they somehow avoided being scrapped (interesting story) also makes them quite affordable for 3rd party space exploration companies.
The engineering was advanced and efficient even for today. I think the main issue is probably that engines sitting in storage for 50 years is micro-fractures or other undetectable issues resulting from sheer age.