Scientists SHOCKED By SpaceX Crazy Upgrades On Raptor Engines

SpaceX upgrades to the Raptor engines are more mind-blowing than you think. SpaceX wants to send the first crewed mission to Mars by 2029, and it is developing its engine at an incredible speed, making modifications that leave scientists wondering how it is possible. But what upgrades have they made this time, and will it bring us one step closer to Mars? Join us as we explore the possibilities of the engine that is now considered an engineering The Better Engine – Raptor 1 vs Raptor 2 The Raptor engine is the third full-flow stage combustion cycle engine ever developed running on super-chilled liquid oxygen and liquid methane. The FF-SDC cycle of the engine is highly advantageous because it maximizes the impulse generated by a specific amount of propellant. The first stage of the Starship, the spacecraft designated for traveling to Mars, will be packed with 33 Raptor engines, 20 non-gimbling engines, 10 gimbling engines, and three gimbling center engines. SpaceX has been developing the Raptor engine for years, changing the versions that were used on its vehicles. The V1 or Raptor 1 engine was used on the Starhopper SN5 to SN11, and the later version, V1.5, was used on the SN15, S20, and V4. The latest version of the engine, the Raptor 2, is a far cry from the earlier versions, offering increased reliability and performance. Looking at it side-by-side, the difference is clear. While the Raptor 1 looks like a mangled-up Christmas tree, the Raptor 2 offers a cleaner look. Some would agree that it almost looks incomplete. During the development of Raptor 1, SpaceX was in its learning stages and required a large number of development sensors to track pressure and temperature throughout the plumbing. For the Raptor 2, this isn't present. The V2 is a complete redesign of the first engine and was made to cut down production costs and time. Owing to this, almost every single component was redesigned, tweaked to be smaller, or removed if it didn't serve a meaningful purpose. Therefore, the plumbing system of Raptor 2 was cut down, to only include the most essential components. The valve plates have also been simplified, and the valves combine. For the Raptor 2, its components are welded together as opposed to the V1, where flanges are used to bolt the compartments together. Replacing the flanges with welds is just another measure taken by SpaceX to reduce the mass of the engine, eliminating leak points and improve its speed. Flanges are used in prototype development in order to switch out parts when needed, and taking them out makes it harder for SpaceX to inspect and replace certain pipes or sections in a modular manner. Luckily, the design of the Raptor 2 is more stable than the V1, and SpaceX can afford to remove as many flanges as possible from the engine, with the hope of removing it all when version 2.5 is ready. Another major change made to the engine is the removal of the torch igniters in the main combustion chamber. Rather than rely on torch igniters, the hot oxygen and methane gas act hypergolic under high temperatures and pressure from the main combustion chamber. The cleaner plumbing and wider combustion chamber throat make the V2 engine's more flame and heat proof, and decrease the booster's mass by up to 6 tons. The engine is able to produce 320 tons of thrust from its smaller design, a 35% increase from Raptor 1, which produced 187 tons of thrust. Elon Musk and the engineers in charge are confident that it will go up to 250 tons of thrust when the V2.5 debuts on Booster 12. Additionally, the Raptor 2 has a thrust-to-weight ratio of 1.5 at liftoff, a 100% increase from V1 1.12 at liftoff. This has a lot of benefits, such as decreasing the fuel needed for the booster's backburn. The remodeling goes in line with Musk's, the best part is no part mantra. The reduced cost of assembly, ease of manufacturing, and reduced costs allow Raptor 2 to be relaunched an hour after use compared to V1, which would require weeks between launches. With this, SpaceX can perform more tests in a short amount of time, and make the necessary modifications without long delays. Still, the two variations do share some similarities. The engine manifolds are cast from SX-300 Iconel, a stainless steel superalloy. This austenistic nickel-chromium based superalloy is made in-house by SpaceX as heat and oxidization resistant material. But this isn't the first time Iconel has been used in rockets. The skin of the X-15 rocket-powered aircraft was made out of Iconel X. The vehicle first flew in 1959, making it 63 years since Iconel was first used in the industry. SpaceX also used Iconel in the engine manifold of the The SX-300 Iconel will be replaced with XS-500, a material designed by SpaceX to withstand a pressure of up to 800 atmospheres. By developing its own SX-500 iteration, SpaceX is laying the foundation for a more reliable and robust turbopump for the Raptor propulsion system, resulting in the greatest possible efficiency. The material is gradually being incorporated into some Raptor engine parts using 3D printing, and has been proven successful on different occasions. The V1 and V2 engines are both reusable engines, with Elon Musk claiming that the Raptor engine can be used up to a thousand times, making the most use of its methane fuels. This is just about it for the similarities, and make sure to hit the like and subscribe button if you are enjoying the video. SpaceX's end goal is to continue to make the and cheaper to build, costing less than $250,000 to produce. The company also plans to reduce and eventually remove the use of 3D printing in its engines, due to high cost and low maintenance rate. The possibilities of the Raptor The Raptor engine is still in its infancy, but there is nothing else like it. It has paved the way for environmentally conscious, cost-effective and efficient space travel, making the goal of colonizing Mars seem more feasible. Due to its reusability and efficient manufacturing, several Raptor-powered spacecraft can be launched several times a week, delivering more payload than NASA has ever done with its vehicles. Starship can send 100 tons to the moon, twice the lunar payload of the Saturn V, one of the most powerful vehicles under NASA. Since it can fly heavier equipment at a cheaper cost, projections for cargo launches would cost as low as $10 per kilogram. For Mars exploration, they could deploy machinery like rovers in loads to accelerate the creation of a self-sustaining habitat on Mars. Musk's proposed 10-year plan for colonizing Mars will cost $2.08 billion per year, significantly less than NASA's SLS. The SLS offers a smaller payload, and each launch costs over $2 billion. The SLS is by no means a pushover, as it was designed by the finest engineers NASA has to offer, but it does fall behind Starship in terms of design and cost. For commercial travel, the Starship can make point-to-point trips happen in a matter of minutes. For non-orbital flights, the Starship will be able to carry 230 tons of payload, double the amount carried by the largest long-haul airplanes in the world. SpaceX plans to mass-produce Raptor engines for less than $300,000 if possible, and a Starship is expected to cost as low as $2-3 million when completed. With a production cost of $30 million, the Starship is already five times cheaper than a commercial airplane, and when the final version is complete, it could be 60-100 times cheaper. It will be 20 times faster than a commercial flight, enough to make a trip from New York to Paris take just 30 minutes compared to the 7 hours and 20 minutes it would take on a regular airplane. A trip from London to Hong Kong, which would typically take 11 hours and 50 minutes, would come to just 34 minutes with the ballistic vehicle. The cabin designed for the Starship has a volume of 825 cubic meters, bigger than an Airbus A380 jet plane. For the Mars trip, 40 cabins can be fitted on the Starship to house a maximum of 6 people per cabin. This comes to a total of 120 people making the trip to Mars at once. But for commercial travel, the Starship will be able to carry 1,000 people on a single flight. Speaking of the possibility, Musk suggested that the vehicle would be used for basic travel with no toilet, food area, or pilot area, considering that the flight would be a short one. The cost for each passenger would come to $1,200 per person, putting it around the same price as a first-class ticket. On Earth, Starship can drastically reshape our concepts of time and space. For space exploration, it can upturn our understanding of space and catapult humanity into the future. The company is set to make and break records with its Raptor engines, and it is only a matter of time before we can see if it can live up to the hype and expectation. Do you think SpaceX can make the Raptor engine more effective for space exploration? Type yes or no in the comments section below. In case you want to watch more fascinating videos, click the videos on the screen now. If you enjoyed the video, don't forget to subscribe with all notifications turned on.