> How did Musk solve this problem? SpaceX haven't, yet. > As I recall, the Soviet moon rocket failed because it had a cluster of engines that they could never

> How did Musk solve this problem? SpaceX haven't, yet. > As I recall, the Soviet moon rocket failed because it had a cluster of engines that they could never get to work together. The Saturn V had a cluster of only 5, and barely were able to get that to work. N-1 rocket had many troubles with the engines, but it wasn't specifically due to the number of engines: the NK-15 engine couldn't be test fired, vs the Raptor definitely can. You can read more about the four failures here[1]. Similarly, the biggest issues with the F1 engine (powered the first stage of the rocket) was with the injector plates: there was a lot of combustion instability due to uneven mixing in the giant combustion chamber. The Raptor, by virtue of injecting both fuel and oxidizer in gaseous form, will mix better (and it has much smaller combustion chamber anyway) Having two launch pads (they're starting work on a second tower at the Cape) is also a big help, as they would have backup launch site in case there's an explosion. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N1_%28rocket%29#Launch_history https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N1_%28rocket%29#Launch_history