SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk announced that the latest test fire of the "Starship Raptor Flight Engine" developed by his company to take people to the Moon and Mars reached the power level needed for the company's new heavy rocket to reach space.
"Raptor just achieved power level needed for Starship & Super Heavy," Musk tweeted on Feb. 7. Four days earlier, Musk shared a photograph and an exciting video of the first test of the Starship Raptor Flight Engine.
He later tweeted: "Raptor reached 268.9 bar today, exceeding prior record held by the awesome Russian RD-180. Great work by @SpaceX engine/test team!"
Musk also said the Raptor engine surpassed a rocketry record for combustion chamber pressure held by Russian scientists and engineers for more than two decades. He said Raptor surpassed the Russian engine known as the RD-180.
The Raptor Flight Engine will power both stages of the monster Starship/Super Heavy super-heavy launch vehicle now under development by SpaceX. Starship refers to the second stage launch vehicle with an integrated payload and crew section. It can carry either a human crew or cargo.
Raptor is a methane-fueled rocket engine where thrust is generated by cryogenic liquid methane and liquid oxygen (LOX). It will have about twice the thrust of the Merlin 1D engine powering the Falcon 9 launch vehicles used on SpaceX launch missions today.
Powered by six powerful Raptor engines, Starship can operate as a crewed spacecraft on flights to Earth orbit and Beyond Earth Orbit (BEO). The latter means flights to the Moon, Mars and into deep space. Starship is designed to be recovered and re-used after landing, like the first stage of the SpaceX Falcon 9 launch vehicle.
Super Heavy is the gigantic first stage booster that will launch Starship into space. This mammoth, next-generation launch vehicle is 63 meters long and 9 meters in diameter. Thrust will be generated by 31 Raptor rocket engines generating 61.8 Newton meters (13,900,000 lbf) total liftoff thrust. Super Heavy can also be recovered and re-used.
Starship/Super Heavy will be capable of lofting more than 136,000 kg (or 150 tons) into low Earth orbit (LEO).
Musk has said the goal of BFR is to make redundant the Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy and the crew/uncrewed Dragon spacecraft. This move will allow SpaceX to shift all its resources and funding to developing Starship/Super Heavy.
