Starship Raptor Engine Test Stuns Elon Musk: 'Did Not Expect It To Survive'

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk announced on Saturday that the combined power of Starship‘s multiple Raptor engines will generate a thrust of 19.5 million pounds for the massive rocket. 

What Happened: Musk shared in a tweet that the Raptor engine of Starship achieved a chamber pressure of 350 bar, equivalent to 269 tons of thrust. “Congrats to SpaceX propulsion team! Starship Super Heavy Booster has 33 Raptors, so total thrust of 8877 tons or 19.5 million pounds,” Musk tweeted. 

Acknowledging the high pressure as uncharted territory, Musk expressed surprise at the engine’s ability to withstand it. “To be frank, we did not expect the engine to survive a full duration run at that pressure. It is uncharted territory,” Musk said. “Raptor chamber wall might have the highest heat flux of anything ever made.” 

Why It Matters: SpaceX’s Starship, composed of the Super Heavy rocket and the spacecraft, aims to create a fully reusable transportation system for crew and cargo missions to Earth’s orbit, the Moon, Mars, and beyond.

The Super Heavy rocket relies on 33 Raptor engines, while the spacecraft is equipped with six engines, including three Raptor engines and three Raptor Vacuum engines. 

The Raptor engine, a reusable methane-oxygen staged-combustion engine, boasts twice the thrust of the Falcon 9 Merlin engine, according to SpaceX. 

In April, SpaceX conducted the first test launch of Starship, utilizing 30 engines after three failed to start, but the rocket exploded within four minutes of liftoff.

Starship plays a crucial role in Musk’s ambition of making human life “multi-planetary.” In 2020, he expressed plans to transport a million people to Mars by 2050 using Starship.

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