>>1587185>Vulcan Centaur is friction stir welded though.Welded isogrid panels. Panels are machined from the solid block with 90% material turned into swarf.
When falcon tanks are made fro plain sheet and extruded profiles all welded together. Near 100% usage of material, much faster and cheaper production. SpaceX reinvented fuel tank (but barely anyone knows that because tanks are boooooring who wants to talk about them? engines steal all the glory and attention)
Spacex didn't invent Airware 2198 aluminum–lithium allow, they didn't invented friction stir wielding. But SpaceX had courage to go and take fresh cutting edge technologies and alloys that didn't existed in 60s and and build rocket in the new better way using technological progress. When NASA and another agencies stuck in the boomer past.
