Elon Musk: “The steel rocket weighs less than the carbon fiber rocket…”

“So you can cut the mass of the windward part of the heat shield maybe in half. And you don't need any heat shielding on the leeward side. So the net result is actually The steel rocket weighs less than the carbon fiber rocket because the resin in the carbon fiber rocket starts to melt. So basically carbon fiber and aluminum have about the same operating temperature capabilities, whereas steel can operate at twice temperature. I mean, these are very rough approximations. People will.” (2:03:48–2:03:58)

This is an excerpt from a raw transcript. The assertions have not been audited or verified. Tap the video to view the source footage and understand the context.