Posted on 08/05/2024 8:06:50 PM PDT by Jonty30
SpaceX has unveiled the Raptor 3 engine, marking significant advancements in thrust, specific impulse, and mass efficiency compared to previous versions. The Raptor 3 boasts a thrust of 280 tf, a specific impulse of 350s, and an engine mass of 1525 kg. The SpaceX Raptor 3 engine has potential to exceed 300 tons of thrust in future iterations, emphasizing ongoing efforts to improve efficiency.
(Excerpt) Read more at nextbigfuture.substack.com ...
Raptor 3 looks a bit like a Dalek. If it starts to say “Exterminate” run!
Iterative development seems to be the future for aerospace technologies.
CC
I saw an update video on YouTube that showed all three versions of the Raptor engine side by side. The improvements in versions 2 and 3 are obvious.
Musk has some geniuses working for him. I can’t wait to see it in action!
“The best part is no part.” (Musk saying)
That’s a great pic, showing the 1, 2, and 3 and the reduction in design complexity.
Still, despite its edge in areas including specific impulse over the F1 used in the Saturn V, there’s nothing like cubic inches. :^) I’m such a fuddy-duddy.
Meanwhile, Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft remains stranded at the ISS, with no definitive plan as to how NASA plans to retrieve the crew. The Starliner should be renamed S.S. Minnow.
Simplicate and make lighter
I just love when Elon Musk discusses moving TONNAGE into orbit, and farther.
The SuperHeavy Booster can today be considered operational as a one time use booster. Very soon, it will be reusable.
Bezos, Blue Origin, and SpaceX began just a short time apart. Musk and SpaceX have revolutionized rocketry. “They” said reusing rockets was a fool’s errand. One of my favorite parts of any SpaceX launch is called the “boost back burn.” After the first stage is done, it returns and lands near the launch site. The first step after booster separation is the “boost back burn” where the rocket turns and lights its engines to return to the launch site. With some SpaceX launches (both Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy) if the trajectory demands it, some boosters land on a platform in the middle of an ocean. Wherever the boosters land, they are refurbished and used again, and again, and again. Musk and SpaceX are driving down the launch costs.
Once both SuperHeavy and Starship are fully reusable, the cost of placing TONNAGE in space will fall even more.
Meanwhile, Bezos and Blue Origin have launched Captain Kirk up and down.
yup, when less, is more...
Elon!
Commencing countdown
Engines on
Check ignition
And may God’s love (Blast off) be with you
I was hoping!!
36% lighter, 51% more thrust, and 100% more elegant
What’s not to like!
Imagine if that happened with:
fedgov.corrupt/demonrat/permanent/all
“Isp of 350 seconds is pretty good. SSME (shuttle main engine) Isp was 366 seconds, and they cost about $40 million each, which I’m guessing is way more than the Raptor 3.”
RS25 which is what the SSME is and what the SLS throws four away every launch are not $40 million each they are 100+ million each the government contract is is public knowledge. As for ISP the RS25 is 450 in vacuum nothing beats H2 O2 in space it’s physics. ISP is not as important as mass ratio of the stage and engine for anything other than deep space high delta V work. Elon says Raptors are in the million dollar range and should be in the $300k range in mass production. This is an engine that is lighter than the 100 million RS25 and already has more thrust and 1/100th the cost the difference from private sector profit driven work and pork belly boondoggle cannot be more clear. SLS only propose is to funnel money to Congress districts that’s it anything else is secondary.
Yes, but the one great flaw in Musk’s StarShip and booster design is their weight. The heavier they are, the less payload they can boost to orbit & the less height they can achieve.
For example, the Pentagon has some very large and heavy satellites they want to place directly into geosynchronous orbit. No way stops, no refueling. Earth to 20,000 miles high in one shot. Currently the Falcon heavy with two Falcon 9 boosters can be used. But, the planned satellites will not fit in the Falcon Heavy fairing. So the contract was awarded to Blue Origin which will go direct to orbit and have a large enough fairing ( that the rocket has not flown is beside the point ).
StarShip cannot do that because even with a far larger fairing, it has to be refueled at least once and possibly twice. All of that takes too long & is too complicated for the Pentagon.
Which to illustrate the point further, it will take some 15 prepositioned refueling ships to get to the Moon. More to return. Why is that bad? Because each of those refueling stops has to work perfectly every time. The idea is simplicity, and here, the job is unnecessarily complex.
Don’t even ask how many refueling ships need to be prepositioned to get to and from Mars.
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