SpaceX has been going through a long licensing process with the Federal Aviation Administration over whether it can launch its huge Starship to orbit from Texas. Meanwhile, it’s testing out a variant of its super-powered Raptor engine.
The company shared a video of its Raptor vacuum engine fitted onto a Starship prototype firing for the first time. While it’s technically the second time it has been tested, it’s the first time the company has done so attaching the engine to the rocket.
Getting ready for Moon and Mars
Starship is built to ferry humans to the Moon, and eventually to the Red Planet. The Raptor vacuum engine is basically a “space” version of the Raptor engines that will take off underneath the Super Heavy booster.
The vacuum engines have a bigger nozzle and are built to operate more efficiently in the vacuum of space than the “sea-level” variant of Raptor. Starship is expected to be outfitted with three RVacs and 3 standard Raptor engines for flights across the cosmos.
Showing off its space ambitions
Previously, SpaceX and Elon Musk showed off that the first “full-stack” Starship prototype before it was about to complete testing in Texas. “29 Raptor engines and 4 grid fins have been installed on Super Heavy ahead of first orbital flight,” SpaceX tweeted with photos. Super Heavy is a huge booster made to enable Starship to escape Earth’s gravity. Until now, the company only showed off Starship prototypes lift off on their own. To make it to orbit, the booster has to enter the equation.
The company uses 29 engines for the rocket, which is two more than used on Falcon Heavy launches. The Super Heavy leverages three Falcon 9 rockets, each packing nine Merlin engines. Raptors are designed to provide more than twice the thrust of each Merlin. That kind of power is needed to land on the moon and eventually Mars.
