SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said on Wednesday that the Raptor engine of its Starship launch vehicle is not perfect and needs a few more changes.
What Happened: “Still a few final touches to perfect Raptor,” Musk said in a post on social media platform X.
SpaceX first showcased the revamped engines of Starship, dubbed Raptor 3, in August.
Raptor 3 does not require any heat shield as everything is regeneratively cooled. It is lighter and has more thrust and higher efficiency than Raptor 2, Musk then said.
"Truly, a work of art," Musk wrote about the engine while adding that the team at SpaceX put a "staggering amount of work" into it. "Getting close to the limit of known physics," Musk wrote about the engine in another post.
Why It Matters: However, Musk then also warned about future changes to the engine.
With the new version, SpaceX has got the fundamental architecture of the engine right but there will still be "thousands of improvements" going forward, Musk said. He also noted that the induced mass of the new version of the engine, though better than the previous version, has a "lot of room for improvement."
The raptor engine is used exclusively for SpaceX's ambitious Starship launch vehicle aimed at taking people to the Moon and Mars. Starship, which is in the testing and development phase, has had six test flights to date. The next and seventh flight test of the Starship is expected next week.
For the upcoming flight test, the launch vehicle will carry 10 Starlink simulators as payload which are similar in size and weight to the company’s next-generation Starlink satellites in a bid to demonstrate its capabilities in the satellite launch segment.
SpaceX is looking to catch the two-stage vehicle's booster back at the launch pad at Starbase with the launch tower's metallic arms like on its fifth test flight in October. However, in case of any safety concerns, the company will splash it down in the Gulf of Mexico, it said.
The spacecraft, meanwhile, is slated to be splashed down in the Indian Ocean on the upcoming test.
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