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Letter: [copy] Shall I number the engines of your rocket?

Published 7 February 2018

From David Coker, Ledbury, Herefordshire, UK

Paul Marks asserts that Russia's workhorse spacecraft, Soyuz, has 20 engines (20 January, p 24). It depends what you mean by “engine”. Soyuz , but many describe these as parts of five rocket motors, each with one set of pumps feeding fuel to four combustion chambers. By this definition, the Falcon 9 first stage already has more engines than the Soyuz.

Issue no. 3164 published 10 February 2018

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