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the Raptor engine series is an extremely high barrier to entry. I would bet 30% of Spacex's innovation lies in that one engine. Its combination of thrust, effic
by chasd00 3y ago
the Raptor engine series is an extremely high barrier to entry. I would bet 30% of Spacex's innovation lies in that one engine. Its combination of thrust, efficiency, and small size are beyond anything else. The size blows me away, if you took the nozzle off it's about the size of a car engine.
Without the engineering breakthroughs to produce something like the Raptor engine launches at this scale just aren't possible. There's other engines with thrust to match Raptor but not the efficiency nor size. For example, there's just no way you can put 33 RS25s under an airframe.
from the link below
"The SpaceX Raptor 3 was recently test fired and reached 18% more thrust than a Raptor 2. The Raptor 2 had 25% more thrust than the Raptor 1 and it was 20% lighter."
it's just crazy what that propulsion team is doing...simply crazy
https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2023/05/spacex-raptor-3-engines-and-beyond.html https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2023/05/spacex-raptor-3-engine...
- cryptonector 3y ago> I would bet 30% of Spacex's innovation lies in that one engine. Musk often points out that the stage 0 work is harder (and I suspect more innovative) than the rocket (and engine) design. He also often mentions that fabrication is even harder. I.e., all the processes, tools, machines, etc. used to build all those engines and rockets is harder still than stage 0 -- one might even call it stage -1. It's possible that Raptor is not even closed to "30% of Spacex's innovation" :)