3 ms·
His latest tweets are a bit hard to interpret but they say target thrust is 3x Merlin, and 3x chamber pressure, meaning they look similar size if they have a si
by Gravityloss 10y ago
His latest tweets are a bit hard to interpret but they say target thrust is 3x Merlin, and 3x chamber pressure, meaning they look similar size if they have a similar area ratio.
I think the combustion chamber and throat are going to be of roughly similar size, but Raptor is going to have a bigger nozzle, because if you expand to ambient (or slightly below), the higher pressure engine naturally has a larger area ratio.
Anyway, in general, the nozzle in a high pressure engine can be a little smaller for the same thrust, but that effect is not 3x.
Maybe they haven't yet fabricated the big nozzles so they first test it in a very underexpanded condition.
- iamcreasy 10y ago> His latest tweets are a bit hard to interpret but they say target thrust is 3x Merlin, and 3x chamber pressure, meaning they look similar size if they have a similar area ratio. Does it mean three Merlin engines can be replaced with one Raptor engine?