In the beginning around February 2018, SpaceX produced its first 100 Raptor 1 engines in
about 36 months.
Yes, of course, that’s crazy, and begs the question; how was spacex able to chunk out
hundreds of raptors without testing, and yet was confident that all the raptor will work
efficiently?
Before we get into the sweet side of the whole story.
Let’s talk more about what really happened.
In June 2019, Musk boasted that SpaceX goal is to build one raptor engine every 12 hours
before the end of year.
As it’s usually the case, that progress was far fetch.
And it appears to be just statements without achievement.
No doubt, a high rate of raptor production was required, but the efficiency of the raptor
1 engine discourages the process – like making Raptor one the fastest-produced orbital-class
rocket engine in history.
But can this be a dream come true using the raptor one engine?
Oh no, it will appear like claiming you can use one stone to kill two birds, knowing fully
well that in engineering working with a trial-and-error idea reduces efficiency, functionality, and
most importantly wastes cost.
So, instead of diverting attention, spacex has to cook in the required efficiency in
one engine and that brought about the transformation.
Because, in as much as the next-generation Starship rocket needs more engines.
The booster should operate like a super man; having the capacity to lift cargo, the whole
vessel, propellants, and the weight of 33 raptor engines all at a time into space.
Hence, that is how the raptor 2 engine brought about a spontaneous breakthrough that led
us to the miracle behind the reusability of the starship.
How was this feasible with the help of the raptor 2 engine, and why did spacex completely
abandon the raptor one engine without regret?
Let’s find out in today’s episode of Tech Spacex.
Raptor 2 is the God sent engine for the starship, a miracle that outsmarts everything rocket
engine in the history of rocket science and production.
The raptor 2 engine is a beast that produces 510 000 pounds of thrust compare to what you
will have in the F1 engine which was the only type of engine that has the highest thrust
of about 1.5 million pounds before the birth of the raptor 2 engine.
Raptor 2 crushed everything, not only that, but it enlightened our believe that something
imaginable can be possible.
Like firing 33 engines under one rocket, that’s like a black magic, invented by Elon’s bright
brain.
but the most important thing is with all 33 Raptors at Full Throttle Starship is doing
the laudable, that is producing 7 600 tons or 16.7 million pounds of thrust at liftoff
beating the most powerful rocket Saturn 5 that uses five F1 engines in the first stage
of its power.
Now, the not-so-usual word spacex don’t want to joke with is reusability.
And it seems the majority find this game changing word, not so easy to understand.
The media, only pronounce this word, on the news, but it has a unique technology inclined
meaning, that will change the human race in the universe.
Perhaps by now, you may be confused, but here is what reusability simply means in the consistent
operation of the starship rocket.
Reusable rocket engine is clearly defined not to hype the functionality of the raptor
2 engine, rather to unfold its unusual capability that has not been implemented in any other
rocket in history.
Thus; reusability of the starship rocket is is simply firing the rocket engine more than
once.
This means the starship rocket can go on another flight, almost immediately it lands from the
previous flight, without any serious engine check or maintenance, and it can work this
way as long as the starship rocket is in use, without functional damages on parts.
This is a game changer rocket operation that has never existed anywhere in history, Elon
Musk and spacex is all set to bring it to live.
The raptor 1 engine first produced wasn’t too equipped with the required functions that
appreciates reusability, but as soon as the raptor two engine came into play, the scope,
and limitation breaks all rocket engineering that has ever been invented.
But mind you, nothing good comes easily, and when it’s new under the sun, it’ll be
tough.
Developing a conceptualized engine wasn’t a day job for spacex.
Even though the required design was feasible on simulation systems, it also faced its bottle
neck.
So, what are the challenges in building a raptor engine and giving it a long life and
making it efficient to operate at the long run?
Honestly, anything that's required to work repeatedly in extreme conditions will be more
difficult to build than something that's only required to perform for a few minutes.
For an orbital engine that is expected to be reused, we will need reusability models
that of course will appraise reliability without flaws at the long run.
The turbo pumps are the most important and difficult component.
Most rocket engines are open cycle designs in which fuel and oxidizer are bled from the
main system to power a double centrifugal pump via turbine.
The exhaust from that process is dumped outside the engine Bell and may be seen as a trail
of black smoke because they are typically built to be very fuel efficient.
Being rich fuel helps to keep temperatures low, but turbine blades and seals are still
vulnerable to high temperatures and stress, which can swiftly ruin fine tolerance components.
More complex designs, such as the SpaceX Raptor, employ a fully closed Cycle System, which
includes a unique turbo pump for each fuel and oxidizer.
Going for a fully closed cycle means that all of the fuel and oxidizer are sent to the
main combustion chamber and nothing is wasted, which means that one of your turbo pump turbines
must work on a lean mixture, raising the combustion temperature.
Another factor to take into account is the requirement for reusable rocket engines to
restart, which is not typically peculiar as a factor for a single-use engine.
Because of the added complexity, there are more potential problems.
This only scratches the surface of the Bell design, which must be able to resist the high
combustion temperature that is created inside the main chamber without cracking.
In addition, the NASA space flight video shows several Raptor engines self-destructing while
being tested.
In reality, there are a variety of factors that might cause engine failure.
The combustion chamber of a Raptor 2 is subjected to a gigawatt of heat during testing, which
is sufficient to melt every material known to man.
To keep these engines from melting, considerable engineering is required, such as piping cryogenic
fuel around the engine to cool it, but these systems are tough to tune and perfect, which
is why Raptor 2 engines are still under testing.
The Rocket is going through static fire tests every now and then, to evaluate how well it
can keep cool and if it can sustain a burn for long enough while maintaining a long-life
cycle and being able to accomplish many launches before needing to be replaced until SpaceX
proves it can't put a Raptor 2 into orbit.
A pre-burner is used to start the combustion process in a full flow stage combustion engine
by injecting a small amount of fuel.
Normally, some propellants are used up at the beginning of a traditional open cycle
engine, but Raptor will use every last drop of fuel, making it one of the most effective
rocket engines ever created.
The number of supply delays, however, makes it evident that they are also having a lot
of difficulties.
Ultimately, this adds even more complexity to the work SpaceX Engineers', since the Raptors
aim to be reused.
When a typical first stage rocket engine completes its mission, it would be travelling hundreds
of miles over the ocean at a speed of sound above in the atmosphere.
Hence, it is actually quite challenging to get the engine back to a location where it
can be reused without adding an unacceptable amount of weight.
You must store a significant amount of fuel if you want to fly back to land on wings because
it adds a lot of weight and complexity.
To safely land a returning rocket, the size of a rocket stage by parachute is actually
quite difficult, and second and higher stages have it even worse.
If you're using a flyback booster like SpaceX, you could drop the stage into the ocean with
parachutes, but that would submerge your engines in salt water and require you to send a ship
out to pick up the entire thing.
However, if you'd have to recover them from traveling at close to orbital speed, you'd
need a serious heat shield to survive re-entry on top of all the difficulties of Landing
it too complicated.
Well in short all of this really causes the SpaceX Raptor to upload so often but Elon
Musk is clearly not giving up on his chosen path let's hope and let's see him succeed
on his quest.
Do you think the raptor 2 engine will ever make it up to orbit?
SpaceX's has also announced they final decision about Starship launch infrastructure and this
definitely would change everything, just click on the video.