The #1 Brilliant Reason SpaceX's Starship Raptor Engine Is Better than Others!

The #1 Brilliant Reason SpaceX's Starship Raptor Engine Is Better than Others!
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#spacezone #space #starship #spacexstarship
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The #1 Brilliant Reason SpaceX's Starship Raptor Engine Is Better than Others!
For decades, rocketry advanced through steady technological improvements, yet the core idea remained unchanged: ignite fuel at one end to push the vehicle forward. That changed in the last decade. SpaceX has elevated this principle with the development of the Starship Raptor engine, going beyond mere enhancements to fundamentally reshape how we think about space propulsion. Here's why the Raptor is truly ahead of its time.
The Raptor is not the first engine family developed by SpaceX. That honor goes to the Merlin engine, which currently powers the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launch vehicles, and previously flew on the now-retired Falcon 1. Merlin engines use RP-1 (a refined form of kerosene) and liquid oxygen as propellants, operating on a gas-generator power cycle.
The #1 Brilliant Reason SpaceX's Starship Raptor Engine Is Better than Others!
The first version, the Merlin 1A, was relatively low in performance. It featured a simple, expendable design with an ablatively cooled nozzle made from carbon-fiber-reinforced composite and produced just 340 kN of thrust. It flew only twice, failing once and succeeding once, before being retired. But over the years, the Merlin engine has seen major improvements. The current version, the Merlin 1D, now produces 845 kN of thrust at sea level. That is impressive for its class, though still considered medium-performance.
That is perfectly fine because Falcon 9 was always intended to be a medium-lift rocket. It started as a demonstration that SpaceX could build a reliable, cost-effective launch vehicle, and it delivered. Today, the Falcon 9, powered by Merlin 1D engines, dominates the market for Low Earth Orbit missions and remains the most flown commercial rocket in the world.
But SpaceX is not stopping there.
The #1 Brilliant Reason SpaceX's Starship Raptor Engine Is Better than Others!
The company now has its sights set on something far more ambitious: building a rocket capable of carrying hundreds of tons of cargo and even people to distant destinations like Mars. It is a bold goal that few have seriously pursued, and even fewer have had the courage or capability to attempt. SpaceX believes the key to making this vision a reality lies in its next-generation engine, the Raptor.