Starship's Powerhouse: How SpaceX Builds & Tests the Raptor Engine! 🚀

Dive deep into SpaceX's Raptor engine 🚀 – the powerhouse behind Starship's incredible journeys to orbit. Uncover where and how these beasts are constructed, tested, and integrated into Starship. From its origins in Hawthorne, California, to the extensive testing at McGregor, Texas, and finally to its launch from Starbase, this video uncovers the intricacies of the Raptor engine and its evolution. Whether you're a space enthusiast or just curious about rocketry, join us on this thrilling journey to understand the heart of SpaceX's most ambitious project. Like & Subscribe for more space exploration insights!

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Video & Photos by: Jack Beyer, Gary Blair, Nic Ansuini, Thomas Burghardt, Michael Baylor, Stephen Mart, Jay DeShelter, Starbase Live, Space Coast Live, McGregor Live, SpaceX, BocaChicaGal, Elon Musk.

L2 Boca Chica (more clips and photos) from BC's very early days to today.

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[ferdi]

Personally, I watch anything NSF. There is always a new nugget/ easter egg somewhere in each video. Thank you NSF TEAM

[winstonsmith]

The basic need for a vacuum nozzle is actually pretty simple to explain: we want the high velocity gases directed exactly away from the nozzle and along (parallel with) the longitudinal axis of the rocket; with an under-expanded nozzle where the gases aren't at the local atmospheric pressure at high altitudes when they exit the nozzle some of the gases bloom outward with a velocity vector not in line with that axis.

[Trebuchet]

Let's see: 33 on the booster, six on the ship equals 39. Three more equals 42, the meaning of life!

[Clematisch]

7:15 "The Pad has cleared the tower."

[The_roundabout_guy]

Thank you NSF team for another great video!

[jimmyrios]

Of course another banger video coming from NSF great video team

[bradbrowatzke]

Fantastic informational video. There is a lot of travel time for each raptor before it even fires, amazing. I assume rail transport is either not secure enough or logistically detrimental to the program. There doesn't seem to be much rail access at the actual build site either so, perhaps, just a simplification in handling?

[wadewilson]

Hopefully, the Raptor will indeed someday go from the factory to orbit.

[iamaduckquack]

I don't think we have it confirmed if ships will fire all 6 engines are stage sep yet. I would assume the 3 centre ones won't fire immediately as there is close to zero clearance between the nozzles and booster protection dome.

[Round_Slinger]

This video was very well put together but I feel like it is useless for most of your community- we're all SpaceX super nerds. Just my honest opinion. But to someone stumbling across it it's very informative. But keep up the great content. 👍🏿

[stefanklass]

How do you know raptor sea level and vacuum have the same power pack? Afaik they have different throat diameters and different flow rates wich would mean the power pack is probably specialized.

[corrinastanley]

Great explanations thanks Ryan, and well written Ian .

[michaelwilliams]

It seems that having different size nozzles between the vacuum and standard versions of the raptor would require changes in the power plant to account for the longer piping runs on the nozzles. Do they do something tricky to keep the power plant the same despite these differences? Or are there impacts to the power plant?

[RealAndySkibba]

This looks like it'll be a fantastic video.
Great work in advance

[AJ_JonesXAD]

Call it the flip maneuver all you want, I will always know it as the flip and burn. 😎

[thunder]

I believe that SpaceX has developed and tested a Raptor 4 engine at one time. I wonder when that will be integrated into the Starships and Super Heavy Boosters. Have they announced anything about that?

[stjohns]

Excellent presentation! But I thought the main reason for hot staging was to maintain the ship's acceleration. (at 7:34) With the old way, after booster separation, there was a brief moment when nothing was pushing on the ship, resulting in a very expensive loss in momentum.

[Ogopogo]

Does anyone know if B9 has hot gas thrusters?
I remember that we could see a HGT prototype a long time ago. But back then the HGT for boosters were a near future thing.

[davidlewis]

Very good I just wish the Raptor has made it into orbit. That has not happened yet. :(

[zeisch]

Love the dry joke about the center raptors 😂