I can’t imagine how inefficient a country would be if they tamped down all their magical thinking. FFCS, SMILE, and EUVL are all magical thinking if you ask me. Some of the craziest things humans have ever conceived of.
Full-flow staged combustion is a rather logical - and not even particularly useful, we're talking about small percentage points - extension of staged flow combustion, and staged combustion is a rather obvious change to open-cycle schema - and I'm hyperbolizing just a little bit here.
Yes, it brings effects, and it's a cool technology. But saying that at least idea - or results - are fundamentally changing rocket engines... I think that's a stretch.
There’s nothing logical about trying to make non-oxidizing metal that can handle thousands of degrees of temperature, hundreds of bars of pressure, and a nearly pure-oxygen environment? The US essentially made fun of the Soviets for even trying. If you think it’s logical, you don’t understand the tech at all. It’s a borderline miracle, let alone simply “logical”.
Literal rocket scientists spent decades and careers saying it was a waste of time, and random people with zero expertise try to downplay it. I’ll never understand being THIS cocky is a subject one has clearly never touched.
Soviets were world leaders in liquid fuel rocket engines. They used oxygen-rich preburners in e.g very successful line of engines starting with RD-170. It was possible decades ago. And no downplaying.
It doesn't have to be modern to be a miracle. The steam engine is one, too! I think this is still true of FFCS rockets, but maybe we're just wondering at different things in this world :)
Yes, it brings effects, and it's a cool technology. But saying that at least idea - or results - are fundamentally changing rocket engines... I think that's a stretch.