What's the thickness and weight of rocket tanks?

Question

I found it quite fascinating that the Shuttle External Tank was as thin as 2.5mm. That seems very thin for a structure over 40 meters tall and weighing as much as 760 000kg fueled.

I'm curious how this compares to other rockets. I know original Atlas had very thin "balloon" tanks — but how thin was it actually, and how much did it weigh? And what about other rockets in use, say Falcon 9 or Atlas V? Or something really big like Saturn V? How much thickness and weight you need in the tank to support the whole rocket?

Russell Borogove · Accepted Answer · 2015-12-30T20:36:17.653

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Old school Atlas -- 0.1 to 0.4 inches (2.5 to 10 mm) thick -- so, actually, similar to the metal portion of the shuttle ET.

Centaur upper stage tanks -- 0.014"--0.016" (0.36 to 0.41 mm) thick (!).

Saturn V's 1st stage tanks varied in thickness from 0.170"-0.254" (4.32 to 6.45 mm).

edited Dec 30 '15 at 20:36

answered Dec 29 '15 at 18:19

Russell Borogove

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radex · Answer 2 · 2016-05-23T06:51:08.590

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Adding to Russell's answer, Falcon 9 apparently has 3/16''-thick walls (4.7mm). This is interesting, because it's more than Shuttle's ET and about as much as parts of S-IC, despite being a smaller rocket. Presumably this is for extra structural margins to make the stage survive multiple reuse.

edited May 23 '16 at 06:51

answered Jan 01 '16 at 19:58

radex

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The system won't let me suggest an edit for 1 character, so wanted to notify you that 4.7mm is 3/16''. – jkavalik May 22 '16 at 12:45
This Wired article confirms wall thickness is "about 5 mm". – Hobbes May 23 '16 at 08:19
Falcon 9 carries thrust loss – Saiboogu Aug 27 '20 at 04:27

Antzi · Answer 3 · 2016-05-23T14:43:55.007

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For ariane 5 the thickness is:

8mm for the solid boosters 4mm for the cryogenic main stage.

However both have an additional thermal insulation layer. I couldn't find data for the booster [see comments], but it's 2cm for the cryogenic one.

Considering this data I wouldn't be surprised if the insulating layer is missing from the other answers.

PS: the fairing is 3cm thick.

source

edited May 23 '16 at 14:43

answered May 23 '16 at 14:30

Antzi

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The insulating layer is not a structural component. – Hobbes May 23 '16 at 14:35
Of course, but it's misleading not to include it – Antzi May 23 '16 at 14:37
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AFAIK, the Ariane 5 boosters only have thermal insulation on the bottom end of the booster, on the inboard side which faces the first stage main engine. – Hobbes May 23 '16 at 14:41

What's the thickness and weight of rocket tanks?

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