this post was submitted on 09 Aug 2024
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[–] [email protected] 28 points 3 months ago (3 children)

Wow that’s impressive.

Is it because the first two were prototypes so they bolted on whatever they needed without care for it looking nice or did they just refine it so much that they were able to simplify the design significantly?

[–] [email protected] 26 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

That and the march of progress, despite what some people believe we are still evolving at a rapid pace and engine outputs have significantly increased recently.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 months ago

"Progress the like of which the world has never seen the like of which." (scnr)

[–] [email protected] 15 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

The first two prototypes looked like what traditional rocket engine looks like.

For example:

The RS-25 engine that equipped the space shuttle and now the SLS launcher

https://www.spaceupclose.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/0050_2_SLS_KenKremer.jpg

The Vulcain 2.1 that is on the Ariane 6

https://www.esa.int/var/esa/storage/images/esa_multimedia/images/2017/10/vulcain_2.1/17217857-1-eng-GB/Vulcain_2.1_pillars.jpg

SpaceX put a lot of work on refining the engine, they also already produced more than 600 engines ! It's a crazy amount !

[–] [email protected] 14 points 3 months ago (2 children)

It's more of a refinement thing, where anything not absolutely necessary is removed, or 3D printed straight into the structure of the thing instead of added to the side.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I’m sure there is also a lot of diagnostic equipment that became superfluous or redundant once they figured out how the engine ran.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 months ago

I think this happened mostly between Raptor 1 and 2

[–] [email protected] 19 points 3 months ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 11 points 3 months ago (2 children)

its about the size of an american car

[–] monsieur_hackerman 9 points 3 months ago (1 children)

So... Absolutely massive then.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 3 months ago

in comparison the space shuttle engines were 14ft long and 7.5 feet in diameter. too large for your mom, but just barely.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 months ago

About 2 humans laying end to end in an Olympic size swimming pool in a football field.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 3 months ago

At this rate the Raptor 13 will be a platonic cone, and the 300 will be singular point in manifold space

[–] [email protected] 13 points 3 months ago

That is pretty impressive. Going from a clusterfuck of tubes and pipes to a very clean looking engine

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 months ago (1 children)

FWIW the Raptor 3 here does not include the turbopump mechanism. It would look pretty much the same as the raptor 2 (which does have the pump attached).

[–] [email protected] 23 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

No, that's wrong. This is, in fact, the entire engine. It's not missing anything. It was test fired in this configuration. It honestly looks surreal.