3 ms·
I'd imagine the most complex engine ever to use the full flow staged combustion cycle has a large price tag.
by powderpig 5y ago
I'd imagine the most complex engine ever to use the full flow staged combustion cycle has a large price tag.
- phpnode 5y agoPresumably a vast majority of that cost is in R&D rather than manufacturing.
- nickik 5y agoIts not that high, because its designed from the beginning to be produced in the 100s per year. Its probably being produced faster almost every other rocket engine (outside of SpaceX own) and maybe some much simpler engines from Russia or China. They are producing SN100ish by now. A while ago they said 2 million $, already cheap for such an engine. Target is more like 200k$. So likely its between 1-2M. That would make it only about 6M per flight based on the engine.
- chasd00 5y agoEven more amazing when you consider a full flow combustion rocket engine is an engineering masterpiece. The design and materials science are priceless.
- inglor_cz 5y agoWell, one of the aims of the Raptor project is good/cheap manufacturability of engines. They do plan to produce them in massive series. The really costly phase is probably already done - the design work and early experiments.
- mr_toad 5y agoRoughly $1 million, marginal cost (if Wikipedia is to be believed). Each 3 engine Starship prototype conceivably only costs several million. Compared to what NASA is paying for the SLS engines (over $140 million each), it’s loose change.