SpaceX Raptor 3 Engines and Beyond

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. Everyday Astronaut reviewed the work that SpaceX has been doing to reduce unneeded parts and reduce the weight of the Raptor engines. SpaceX will remove gimbaling on the outer engines and remove the rocket shroud where possible as well. It is likely that besides increasing thrust that SpaceX continued to reduce the weight by another 200 kilograms. This would mean reducing the weight of the rocket by 8 tons for the 40 engines in the first and second stage of the Super Heavy Starship.

I have estimated the weight savings and other parameters of the Raptor 3 and speculated on the further weight, thrust and chamber pressure for a future SpaceX Raptor engine.

Weight reduction of the entire rocket and improved electronics and other systems will improve the cost and overall performance of future SpaceX Starship rockets.

9 thoughts on “SpaceX Raptor 3 Engines and Beyond”

  1. More important questions are are much more load can the rocket carry and how much less fuel per mass is needed to reach similar perfomrance.

  2. I don´t understand why Raptor 2 and 3 shows lower Isp than Raptor 1, working at higher pressure chamber. The Isp (really the ideal exhaust veolcity) of a engine can be estimated using the formula (from http://www.braeunig.us/space/propuls.htm):
    http://www.braeunig.us/space/pics/eq1-22.gif
    where k is the specific heat ratio, R* is the universal gas constant, Tc is the combustion temperature, M is the average molecular weight of the exhaust gases, Pc is the combustion chamber pressure, and Pe is the pressure at the nozzle exit.
    Being Pc different but the rest of parameters should be the same for all engines.

    • What does the N1 have to do with this rocket and the Raptor? Are you hoping it fails like the N1? By extension it would be a major failure for America and our space programs.

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