Completed a two-second test fire of the Starship Raptor engine that hit 170 bar and ~116 metric tons of force – the highest thrust ever from a SpaceX engine and Raptor was at ~60% power.
Raptor just achieved power level needed for Starship & Super Heavy pic.twitter.com/NcqnAVWc35
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 7, 2019
Raptor reached 268.9 bar today, exceeding prior record held by the awesome Russian RD-180. Great work by @SpaceX engine/test team! pic.twitter.com/yPrvO0JhyY
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 11, 2019
Just A. Tinker @John_Gardi
Are you considering an extendable nozzle for Raptor at any time?
Would love to see a nozzle that could extend during flight to provide extra ISP!
Elon Musk @elonmusk
Yes, aiming for 380 sec Isp with vac nozzle. Maybe 382 if we get lucky.
Chris (Robotbeat) 🗽 🖖🏾 @Robotbeat
What cost per engine will you achieve, given similar comparison to Merlin? How many Raptors could you make per year given similar resources as you currently use for Merlin?
Elon Musk @elonmusk
This will sound implausible, but I think there’s a path to build Starship / Super Heavy for less than Falcon 9
Randomness as a human @epoxy101
will it be cheaper than F9 for kg to LEO for instance?
Elon Musk @elonmusk
At least 10X cheaper
SPEXcast @SPEXcast
What are the estimated costs for tickets to Moon/Mars accounting for reusability?
Elon Musk @elonmusk
Very dependent on volume, but I’m confident moving to Mars (return ticket is free) will one day cost less than $500k & maybe even below $100k. Low enough that most people in advanced economies could sell their home on Earth & move to Mars if they want.