Why SpaceX’s Starship Raptor Engine Is So Much Ahead Of Its Time!

This is the story of how SpaceX turned the impossible into something operational. Welcome to the story of the SpaceX Starship Raptor engine.

#spaceX #starship #starbase #nasa

Editing: John Young, Alex Potvin, Stefanie Schlang
Photography: Jordan Guidry, Sean Doherty, John Winkopp & Stefanie Schlang
3D Animation: Voop3D
Script & Research: Nathan, Felix Schlang
LIVE Production: Jonathan Heuer, Jordan Guidry
Host: Felix Schlang
Production: Stefanie & Felix Schlang
Graphics & Media Processing: Jonathan Heuer, Felix Schlang

Credit:

⭐SpaceX
⭐NASA
⭐VirtualSpace_3D on X: @Lolomatico3d
⭐The Ring Watchers on X: @RingWatchers

📄Links for this Episode:

[Whataboutit]

Happy New Year, everyone! 🎉
We’re kicking off the new year with something truly special—an exciting project we’ve been pouring our hearts into for the past three months. This marks the beginning of a bold new video format for WAI, and we can’t wait to share it with you!

But we need your help to make it even better. Your feedback is absolutely invaluable. Let us know what you loved, what could be improved, and how this format resonates with you. Your voice matters, and we’re all ears!

Thank you so much for your support—you’re the reason we get to create and share these stories. You’re amazing, and we appreciate you more than words can say. 💙

Now, without further ado, here’s The Raptor Story!

[ravshanoday]

Raptor four is just gonna be a block of thin steel that creates thrust through intimidating physics

[jreber]

Quite possibly the best video you’ve ever made. Well done Felix!

[KenPaulsen]

Felix, you are leveling up! This video is an example of some of the great content you've been producing lately. The way you break things down and keep it interesting is awesome. Keep it up!

[peteclegg]

Have to say, Raptor 3 is a truly astonishing work of art. I'm not in the least surprised that Bruno couldn't believe what he was looking at.

[Fatpumpumlovah]

I remember that day on X when Elon put up the picture of Raptor 3 and that idiot at ULA made his post that its missing many components then hours later the video of it firing came out, making them all eat their socks. Best day ever and i was hoping it would keep their mouths shut for a long while, which it has so far.

[calc]

Incredible design. When the competition is awestruck, you know the design is ground breaking.

[FreeOfFantasy]

~5:00 There are no explosions in those engines. It's all combustion, an explosion would be an detonation. coincidently that is what rotary detonation engines are doing and they get some more efficiency and performance from it.

[tommcmicken]

As a famous space engineer (Montgomery Scott) said "The more you overbuild the plumbin, the easier it is tobstop up the drain" !!!

[phrozenwun]

Was going to comment, but the comments already have me covered - so I'll just say thank you, I really enjoyed this video.

[shrodingerschat]

I'm still waiting for an Epstein Drive.

[keaton]

2:33 Every time you say raptor I don’t think of the prehistoric creature rather, this is what I think of. It’s nice to see it actually in a video after all this time.

[qerku_]

2:56 I was really hoping you'd say "A fully reusable super heavy lift rocket capable of delivering a banana to orbit"

[dgthall]

This was an excellent overview of a tricky and complex topic, and I think the way you presented it was a great balance of simpler descriptions and just enough technical detail to give this geek lots to ponder and dig into further. You've also not just stated but shown directly what approach SpaceX is using for design (and more importantly, iteration and improvement) of this engine. I had forgotten the stated goals for thrust and specific impulse - definitely shows they have a way to go.
Definitely like this format, it was really well done. It will make a great addition to the regular updates many of us have come to depend on twice a week. :D

[surbhikumari]

I got to say that this video was one of your most informative videos. Really worth it!!

[therocinante]

Omg, this video is actually about the Raptor 3. Nice change of pace.

[spookysem_nl]

I really really loved the explanation in the first half of the video! Way more informative than other videos

[bobgraham]

I really enjoyed this presentation, Felix. YOU ROCK.

[jaimeduncan]

People that works in an industrial setting should see this video, even if they don't care about rockets.

[MrJoost]

Love the video, but I gotta correct you on 1 issue. The hydrogen used as fuel is not a single atom, hydrogen is one of the 7 diatomic molecules. So when talking about hydrogen it is H2 (2 atoms bound together). Still a very small molecule though!