ArsTechnica has an interesting article [1] on efforts to recreate the F1 using intact engines and the original design documentation. Reading it, I was surprised how difficult this proved to be in practice, given the extensive information available.
For any engineering effort, there is the documentation and there is the never well documented wisdom of actually building the thing. The plans may say a certain alloy has to be used or part P and the Helium cooling system should not run at more than X psi, but the reasons why it is so could very well be lost in a multitude of memos on failed tests. Sometimes, the reasons of those failures themselves are never known because someone figured out a way that works. Not knowing the complete history of the development of a given machine and why it is the way it is may very well make it almost impossible to continue evolving the design and kill the technology.
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ArsTechnica has an interesting article [1] on efforts to recreate the F1 using intact engines and the original design documentation. Reading it, I was surprised how difficult this proved to be in practice, given the extensive information available.
[1] http://arstechnica.com/science/2013/04/how-nasa-brought-the-...
For any engineering effort, there is the documentation and there is the never well documented wisdom of actually building the thing. The plans may say a certain alloy has to be used or part P and the Helium cooling system should not run at more than X psi, but the reasons why it is so could very well be lost in a multitude of memos on failed tests. Sometimes, the reasons of those failures themselves are never known because someone figured out a way that works. Not knowing the complete history of the development of a given machine and why it is the way it is may very well make it almost impossible to continue evolving the design and kill the technology.