Article

2019-02-04 -Signs, Portents, and the Weather-

First successful test of a Production Raptor rocket engine (SpaceX)

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Posted by 3dc 2019-02-04 00:42|| || Front Page|| [3 views ] Top

#1 This is the engine for the Mars rockets and Moon rockets and mining ones.
Starship once known at the BFR.
31 or more on first stage.
7 or more on second stage.

“Engine use methaox torch igniters. Green tinge is either camera saturation or a tiny bit of copper from the chamber.”
These Raptor engines are designed to run up to 2000 kN compared with 845 kN for the current Merlin 1D at sea level. It will take a while before they are qualified to run at that thrust. So 2.36x the Merlin thrust.

Later Raptor versions will run at 2500 kN so nearly 3x the Merlin thrust.

Full Flow Staged combustion - only ever tested never flown

Spark ignition, can be started on ground, in flight, in space, and on Mars, and can relight whenever.

Highest thrust to weight of any engine.

Plans to upgrade it to highest chamber pressure ever.

And on top of all that it’s reusable.

Posted by 3dc 2019-02-04 01:05|| 2019-02-04 01:05|| Front Page Top

#2 Woo woo! To Infinity and beyond...

Posted by SteveS 2019-02-04 12:56|| 2019-02-04 12:56|| Front Page Top

#3 I saw this comment to try to comprehend this engine:
"An engine that can be transported in a cargo van that produces 7GW, enough power to run Switzerland, with all that power passing through a hole the size of a toilet seat. Rocket engineering is best engineering."

Posted by 3dc 2019-02-04 16:47|| 2019-02-04 16:47|| Front Page Top

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