- #1
swampwiz
- 571
- 83
I was reading about an old project I was involved in (X-33), and it got me thinking. It seems that without aluminum (or something as strong per unit mass), modern aerospace vehicles would not be possible. As everyone here knows, the most important design criteria is weight, and iron is much heavier, and it seems that there would be no such vehicles as the B-52, Boeing 747 or Saturn V if iron were the only choice of metal. I suppose that there would still be vehicles like the Spruce Goose, but that is painfully quaint, and in any case, there is absolutely no way that there could be a wooden launch vehicle.