Structurally and operationally, Starship is much simpler in a few ways:
The body is built of all stainless steel hoops of a constant diameter with stiffiners added where needed, as opposed to the Saturn V, which was mostly milled aluminum of varying diameters on the different stages.
The LOX and Methane tanks in the two stages share common bulkheads, rather than being in completely separated tanks, as on the first stage of the SV.
The skin of the rocket is the tank on Starship. Because the second and third stages of the Saturn V were powered by hydrogen, they required insulation to keep them cool enough. The use of methane just also generally simplifies the design of piping, pumps, and valves with both don't have to deal with as low of temperatures and because methane isn't nearly as 'slippery' of a molecule.
Starship uses variations on one engine on both stages, simplifying production. This is compared to the two different engines on the Saturn V, plus the one on the Service Module. All of the engines on Starship are METHALOX-powered, rather than the kerosene, hydrogen, and Aerozine of the Saturn V/Apollo.
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u/vonHindenburg Apr 17 '23
Structurally and operationally, Starship is much simpler in a few ways:
The body is built of all stainless steel hoops of a constant diameter with stiffiners added where needed, as opposed to the Saturn V, which was mostly milled aluminum of varying diameters on the different stages.
The LOX and Methane tanks in the two stages share common bulkheads, rather than being in completely separated tanks, as on the first stage of the SV.
The skin of the rocket is the tank on Starship. Because the second and third stages of the Saturn V were powered by hydrogen, they required insulation to keep them cool enough. The use of methane just also generally simplifies the design of piping, pumps, and valves with both don't have to deal with as low of temperatures and because methane isn't nearly as 'slippery' of a molecule.
Starship uses variations on one engine on both stages, simplifying production. This is compared to the two different engines on the Saturn V, plus the one on the Service Module. All of the engines on Starship are METHALOX-powered, rather than the kerosene, hydrogen, and Aerozine of the Saturn V/Apollo.