Musk Shares First Ignition Photo of SpaceX Raptor 3 Engine, Closer to Mass Production

TapTechNews August 9th news, Musk shared the first ignition photo of the SpaceX Raptor 3 engine on the social platform today, and it is expected to be one step closer to mass production.

As can be seen from the picture, compared with the previous two generations, the appearance of Raptor 3 has been greatly simplified, and the whole is more compact. The engine adopts a black coating and emits a blue flame. Enlarging the picture, it can be seen that a layer of white frost has formed on the upper surface of Raptor 3, which is expected to be related to its cooling system.

Musk once said that Raptor 3 does not need any heat shield, which also avoids the quality and complexity problems caused by the heat shield, so it is lighter, more powerful and more efficient than Raptor 2.

According to SpaceX official data, the sea-level thrust of the Raptor 3 engine is 280 tons (TapTechNews note: the current generation is 230 tons). With the configuration of 35 engines of the next-generation super-heavy booster, its takeoff thrust can reach 9800 tons, which is about 30% higher than the current model.