SpaceX’s Raptor engine reached new record with 330 bars of pressure. Elon Musk says that his Raptor engine has managed to reach 330 bars of pressure in its main combustion chamber which, if true, would be a new world record in terms of rocket engines. Musk has shared on Twitter these results obtained in tests with the Raptor, ensuring that it is capable of producing this force.
This new record comes 18 months after Elon Musk bragged that the Raptor engine surpassed the Soviet RD-270 with a peak of 268.9 bar, compared to 257 bar for the Russian engine. The new figures are notably higher , although the Raptor has yet to be able to demonstrate its performance in non-laboratory tests.
SpaceX has achieved a record figure with its Raptor engine
Raptor engine just reached 330 bar chamber pressure without exploding! pic.twitter.com/kVKRWksvaB
68 meters high and up to 3,300 tons of fuel power the Starship Super Heavy , the brutal spacecraft that SpaceX is preparing for interplanetary travel. The technology of this ship is quite different from the Falcon 9, which implies having a different series of engines: the Raptors. Musk has published the results of the latest tests with these engines , ensuring that 330 bar pressure in the fuel chamber has been reached.
These Raptor engines are capable of delivering twice the force of the Merlin IDs used in the Falcons, and have a higher thrust than any other rocket (with the exception of a space shuttle). Musk assured in 2013, when the development of these engines began, that these engines are prepared for “the next generation of SpaceX launchers, designed for the exploration and colonization of Mars.”
To date, a figure of 330 bar has never been reached, although the Raptor will have to demonstrate that it is capable of reaching these figures outside of the tests.
18 months after reaching 268.9 bar, the SpaceX’s Raptor engine has briefly managed to reach 330 bar in the main fuel chamber. This figure surpasses even the record of the Soviet RD-701, an engine that managed to reach a pressure of 300 bar, but that was canceled before being used outside of subscale tests .
Even with this data, the Raptor will have to demonstrate that it is capable of achieving these figures outside of testing. However, if the data published by Musk is true, we are undoubtedly facing an engine with capabilities above everything seen previously.