this post was submitted on 09 Aug 2024
119 points (94.1% liked)

interestingasfuck

1984 readers
1 users here now

Please go to !interestingshare@lemmy.zip

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 
all 19 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] incompetentboob@lemmy.world 27 points 10 months ago (3 children)

Wow that’s impressive.

Is it because the first two were prototypes so they bolted on whatever they needed without care for it looking nice or did they just refine it so much that they were able to simplify the design significantly?

[–] yeather@lemmy.ca 26 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

That and the march of progress, despite what some people believe we are still evolving at a rapid pace and engine outputs have significantly increased recently.

[–] DasFaultier@sh.itjust.works 6 points 10 months ago

"Progress the like of which the world has never seen the like of which." (scnr)

[–] BastingChemina@slrpnk.net 15 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

The first two prototypes looked like what traditional rocket engine looks like.

For example:

The RS-25 engine that equipped the space shuttle and now the SLS launcher

https://www.spaceupclose.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/0050_2_SLS_KenKremer.jpg

The Vulcain 2.1 that is on the Ariane 6

https://www.esa.int/var/esa/storage/images/esa_multimedia/images/2017/10/vulcain_2.1/17217857-1-eng-GB/Vulcain_2.1_pillars.jpg

SpaceX put a lot of work on refining the engine, they also already produced more than 600 engines ! It's a crazy amount !

[–] atocci@lemmy.world 14 points 10 months ago (2 children)

It's more of a refinement thing, where anything not absolutely necessary is removed, or 3D printed straight into the structure of the thing instead of added to the side.

[–] MyTurtleSwimsUpsideDown@fedia.io 10 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I’m sure there is also a lot of diagnostic equipment that became superfluous or redundant once they figured out how the engine ran.

[–] BastingChemina@slrpnk.net 6 points 10 months ago

I think this happened mostly between Raptor 1 and 2

[–] grrgyle@slrpnk.net 16 points 10 months ago

At this rate the Raptor 13 will be a platonic cone, and the 300 will be singular point in manifold space

[–] IDew@lemm.ee 13 points 10 months ago

That is pretty impressive. Going from a clusterfuck of tubes and pipes to a very clean looking engine

[–] will_a113@lemmy.ml 4 points 10 months ago (1 children)

FWIW the Raptor 3 here does not include the turbopump mechanism. It would look pretty much the same as the raptor 2 (which does have the pump attached).

[–] atocci@lemmy.world 23 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

No, that's wrong. This is, in fact, the entire engine. It's not missing anything. It was test fired in this configuration. It honestly looks surreal.