Why is Electron painted in black?

Question

Falcon 9 is painted white to avoid heating the liquid oxygen.

Why is Electron not also painted white?

Rocket color-related questions:

Camille Goudeseune · Accepted Answer · 2020-11-02T22:44:46.227

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It's not painted black. It just happens to be that color. Omitting paint saves weight. On 2017 May 24, Rocketlab itself tweeted:

Why a black rocket? Carbon composite materials are black! Paint is heavy & adds another process. Plus, doesn't it look beautiful! #ItsaTest

A different question would be why other launchers don't omit paint. I found an unsubstantiated claim that RocketLab uses proprietary coatings for its cryogenic tanks. But it may be just that Electron's relatively small size and thus greater area-to-volume ratio makes paint weight matter more. Conversely, more area-to-volume means more heat transfer, so insulation matters more. Or maybe the frost is enough for both insulation and whiteness? Mere speculation.

edited Nov 02 '20 at 22:44

answered Nov 02 '20 at 22:03

Camille Goudeseune

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"Black is a good heat-absorbing color. The fuel that SpaceX uses is liquid oxygen that has to be kept at very low temperatures, as a result, they cannot have the whole rocket be black" - says about Falcon 9 în this answer - https://space.stackexchange.com/questions/29771/nature-of-the-silky-black-highly-flame-resistant-felt-on-block-5-falcon-9s/45211 – Joe Jobs Nov 02 '20 at 22:19
Yet the Electron is Black. So F9 cant be black but Electron can – Joe Jobs Nov 02 '20 at 22:30
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@joeJobs SpaceX uses subcooled LOX, so they are, perhaps, more temperature sensitive. If you use boiling-point LOX, you can just feed the boiloff with no ill effect. – Tristan Nov 02 '20 at 22:54
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I've added Is the mass of paint relevant in rocket design? and Could a shiny metallic fairing have some engineering advantage? Disadvantage? to the links in the question, you may be able to find additional supporting information in their answers. – uhoh Nov 02 '20 at 23:17
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I won't hunt down substantiation for a mere comment, but even on bare aluminum hull sailboats, paint mass matters when you're racing. – Camille Goudeseune Nov 03 '20 at 04:32
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Note that the F9 interstage is also black for the same reason: it is not painted and made of carbon composites. – Jörg W Mittag Nov 03 '20 at 07:05
Maybe Electron body it is made of carbon composites and that is heating mucb less than Falcon 9? – Joe Jobs Nov 03 '20 at 14:34

Why is Electron painted in black?

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