It's mind-blowing! SpaceX's INSANE Engineering Behind Raptor 2.0 Engine...

Elon Musk is well known for his technological leaps. He pioneered payments online with PayPal. He kickstarted the EV market with Tesla. And practically created the private space industry with SpaceX. But you may not have heard of his latest monumental advancement. Hidden away in a Texan hangar is a brand new rocket engine with incredible engineering that's going to take us to Mars, help us explore the moon, and even dominate the aviation industry. So what makes this new engine's engineering so unique? Let's find out in today's episode of SpaceX Fans. It's never an exaggeration to say that without the Raptor engines, the Starship would be nothing. They produce the thrust to help the Starship escape the Earth's gravitational pull and propel it on its interplanetary journeys. The thrust it produces must be enormous. Because the Starship is meant to lift heavy payloads of up to 100 tons. Raptor 1 uses methane and liquid oxygen fuel, making it one of the cleanest burning rockets available. And thanks to these high-thrust engines, precise throttle, and gimbal ability, SpaceX has pioneered the self-landing rocket. While Raptor 1 has been refined over the years, it's now an old design. Its construction is complex, it's difficult to manufacture, and it has a long turnaround between launches. It's also hit a thrust ceiling of 185 tons, meaning it would struggle to reach must-demand for a Mars-bound Starship. The SpaceX solution is the Raptor 2, an engine capable of taking us to Mars and beyond. Especially, it isn't just an updated Raptor 1. It's entirely new engineering from the ground up that can outstrip its predecessor in every metric. This requires us to take a closer look at the engineering of the Raptor 2. The new engine is far more than just a step-up from the version 1. The visual changes between Raptor V1 and V2 are apparent with less cabling and plumbing around the engine. While it's easily visible around the entire engine, the turbo pump appears to have been shrunken in size and the plumbing is consolidated. It's a complete redesign. Everything from turbo machinery to chamber nozzle to electronics, all redesigned. This allowed items to be deleted and consolidated while the turbo pumps are even more robust. Citing his dislike of flanges, many have now been converted to welds. Frankly, Raptor 2 has been introduced with lots of insane concepts that few rocket companies have tried. At high pressures and cryogenic temps, flanges are a nightmare, Elon Musk noted. 7-800 bar in places, 11,000 psi, going to welded from flanges is helpful. Musk also noted that the pre-burner controllers have moved to the boxes rather than being all over the engine. This allows future changes to the point where Raptor won't need a shroud. This will reduce the mass and it'll stop being, quote, a pain in the ass, especially for gimbling engines, per Elon Musk. Probably, it will operate at 330 bar sustained in the main chamber, without having the pre-burner pressure to be too high. This will remove choke points, resulting in less pressure loss. Raptor testing has been proceeding well at SpaceX McGregor. The remaining challenge is mitigating against the engine chamber melting. The exhaust of the Raptor 2 engine is expelled at over 10 times the speed of sound. And if that's not crazy enough for you, well, the fuel and chamber burn at temperature is high enough to melt the chamber walls. If you wonder why doesn't the wall melt, well, it's because of the clever way the flame is kept away from the wall and it manipulates the flow of the gas. Super cold fuel is also pumped through the walls as additional security. The Raptor 2 engine works like most rockets do, expelling gases fast enough to push the spacecraft forward. However, a lot of clever engineering makes the Raptor 2 a mighty rocket. The engines depart and they're designed from standard fare for rockets as SpaceX opted for full flow stage combustion cycle. Inside engine ignition is handled by dual redundant spark plug lit torch igniters, which means there's no need for a dedicated consumable igniter fluid that's found in the Merlin. The Raptor combines methane and oxygen that is deeply cooled for propellants near their freezing point at such low temperatures. The propellant is denser, which increases the overall performance of the engine. But what do all these changes really add up to? Well, the Raptor 2 has already produced 247 tons of thrust during static testing and engineers are confident they can hit 250 tons soon. That's a 35% increase in thrust from a smaller, lighter engine. And this will allow any Raptor 2 equipped rocket to have a dramatically increased payload. But it doesn't just stop there. Thanks to Raptor 2's simplicity, it can be relaunched within an hour compared to Raptor 1, which required several weeks in between launches. And this simplicity also means that the Raptor 2 cost half as much to make as the Raptor 1. To say this engine is groundbreaking is a total understatement. The impact of the Raptor 2 will be immense. Now let's look at Musk's ultimate goal, colonizing Mars. Thanks to Raptor 2's quick turnaround, a small fleet of Raptor 2 equipped starships could launch several times a week. This means SpaceX could launch more payloads into space in one year than the U.S. has done in its entire history. The dramatic increase in annual payload capacity is what would enable SpaceX to colonize Mars. Musk estimates a total of 1 million tons of payload is needed to set up a self-sustaining Mars colony. In theory, Raptor 2 equipped starships could deliver this to Mars in about 10 years with 20 launches a week. This means it would take only 1,000 or so Raptor 2 equipped starships working full-time for a decade to colonize Mars. Now as you can imagine, this will cost an awful lot. But that's where the Raptor 2 really shines. A Raptor 2 equipped starship is estimated to cost $2 million per launch. Compare that to NASA's SLS rocket, which is around a 15% smaller payload than Starship, and it cost $1.55 billion to over $2 billion per launch. For some perspective, Musk's hypothetical 10-year Mars colonization project will cost $2.08 billion a year, the same as one SLS launch. Or to put it another way, Starship is 1,040 times less expensive than the SLS. Just a reminder, the SLS is no slouch. It's a cutting-edge rocket designed by the very best at NASA. It's just that Starship and its Raptor 2 are just in another league. Starship could really unlock the Moon, Mars, and the asteroid belt for further human exploration and colonization. With such an impressive payload, a low launch cost, and quick turnaround time, Starship could also significantly impact Earth. As the Raptor 2 can run off carbon-neutral biofuels, Starship could in theory be the world's first net-zero rocket. Combine that with the impressive landing ability and low Earth orbit payload of over 150 tons, you have a possible replacement for commercial jet airplanes. It would only take Starship 29 minutes to go from London to New York, at only double that of a regular first-class ticket per passenger. This service would be impractical with Raptor 1's long turnaround time, but a Raptor 2-equipped Starship fleet could easily shuttle passengers to and fro without massive delay. So, thanks to the Raptor 2, SpaceX could revolutionize aviation as well. And that just about wraps it up for today's episode of SpaceX Fans. Notably, advertisers, if you desire to advertise exclusively on this channel, contact us at the email address below. 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