Cooler with white, but heavier.

Is NASA run by orcs

Back when NASA was flinging things into space for the first time, the tolerances that were even possible were extremely tight. Every pound mattered (every pound still matters, but because we have other things to do once we get to space nowadays, plus every pound is expensive).

600 pounds of white paint for the fuel tank was considered unnecessary, once the engineering team figured that it didn't actually protect the special foam covering of the fuel tank anyway. Thus the distinctive orange color!

Its simple rocket math. Every lb of weight must consume fuel.

Si.pky. 1 lb of weight needs 1 lb of fuel to escape orbit. But the fuel has weight also. So the effective fuel you need to lift the rocket and payload is exponential.

The harder stuff is orbital mechanics. Getting things into orbit is easy. Having thwm go where you want is the hard part.

• Artemis tanks were 10m wide and 30m tall.
• Cylinder surface Area = (2.pi.r^2^) * (2.pi.r.h) ^[curved area plus top and bottom circles]
  • 2 * pi * 5 * 30 ~ 1100m^2^ to paint
• Paint paints about 10m^2^ per Litre paint
• Need 1100 / 10 = 110 Litres of paint
• 1L of paint weighs about 2kg
• 110 Litres of paint weighs about 220kg

Til dyscalculia. I hope you weren't born in asia

But didn't it have ejection seats at one point?

But, why ? You drink a bit more water that day and it’s void.

The polyurethane spray foam insulation is orange.

That's why American Airlines had the "cheat line" livery. Bare hulls saved them enough weight to carry like an extra 2 passengers.

Plus, polished metal on airframes looks sweet IMHO. Real "DC3 golden era of aviation" vibes.

Found the Kerbal Space Program player?

Nice username

Lower the inertial mass

—what to say when you want your obese Trekkie friend to take care of their health

Probably, but the slowest part of the trip is in the most dense air. Probably still a net benefit!

No the purpose of the white pant was to help keep the external tank cool to reduce fuel boil off. The foam insulation was incredibly rough, not something a thin layer of paint could smooth over.

For most of the shuttle, yes, but the removal of the paint from the tank specifically was because the tank had a foam coating that was not actually meaningfully protected by the paint.