How SpaceX Reinvented The Rocket Engine! 

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“Everyone knew it was impossible, until a fool who didn’t know came along and did it.” - Albert Einstein

I'm an engineer on Starlink and I always get lost when talking to my colleagues who work on Falcon and Starship. This really helped out!

Correction: the most powerful rocket engine is the Soviet-built RD-170(has 4 chambers). The F1 is only the most powerful single-chambered engine.

SpaceX did not reinvent the rocket engine-they have made big improvements to existing rocket engine technology and deserve the credit given to them.

The voice is back!

Now, SpaceX has reinvented the spacesuit.

THANK GOD UR VOICE IS BACK

I believe this closed cycle engine is not new. The Soviet/ Russian RD180 was a closed cycle rocket engine designed in the 70's or 80's.

13:03 - The F-1 had a bit more than twice as much thrust:p About 680-790 metric tons. It had all the tons of thrust:p Credit given where credit is due;) And, the RS-25 had an efficiency/specific impulse of around 450s, which is unmatch by any rocketengine ever produced/used. The F-1 and the RS-25 are both unmatch in their domain. The Raptor is an incredibly good mix of power and efficiency :)

9:16 "Unlike every previous engine, which had used a single turbine [....], the Raptor is the only engine with dual gas turbines" - but the Soviets were the first to do that. Most people watching space documentaries have seen that documentary - "The engines that came from the cold", about soviet closed-cycle rocket engines.

I am curious why the Raptor isn't bigger. Fewer larger engines would seem to reduce the complexity, fewer parts to fail. 33 engines on the starship just seems like asking for trouble.

I feel really bad about the feedback (including mine) on the last video about thinking that guy’s voice was AI

Thank you for all the hard work you put into these videos!

6:53 Correction, SpaceX were certainly not the first to use methalox as a propelant (they are the first at the scale of Starship). At the very least, NASA's Project Morpheus is a precursor for both propulsive landing and for use of methalox. RS-16 and RD-0169 are also methalox engines that predate SpaceX's Raptor. The Full Flow engine however is indeed a world first by SpaceX AFAIK.

This is a most excellent video! It is simple and visual and has enough detail that an engineer such as myself who appreciates science but does not know that much about rocket technology can appreciate what is going on at SpaceX!

The de Laval nozzle is a thermodynamic thing of divine beauty. Appreciate a rocket "engine" from its elegant thermodynamics. BTW, "kerosene" That was naphthalene, a high-melting solid and perhaps the worst class of fuel imaginable (including massive loss of internal energy via 4n+2 aromaticity, plus graphitization). CH4 is hydrogen with a built-in supercompressor. All the fun is in the footnotes.

I was always confused about open/closed cycles and full flow. Your explanation has helped me understand. Thank you.

Well constructed video ❤

The Merlin 1D represents what could be done with the available time and money at the time, but that doesn't mean it didn't have a demanding and specific mission requirement. SpaceX rocket design starts with the goal of lowest possible cost of payload to low Earth orbit. This requirement trumps everything else. The consequence is that you find yourself with a set of artificial "musts", because otherwise there's no point in doing it at all. So the question is not so much if it's "possible", but *_how_* it can be possible. What enters into this process is that you must reuse as much of the rocket as possible. What eventually comes out of it, is a two-stage rocket, without solid-fuel boosters, a single rocket fuel that must be not hydrogen, and not hypergolic. A rather small rocket engine that need a very high thrust to weight ratio, must be throttleable, and must be a mass-production item. The Raptor is a product of the exact same process, only this time there are no compromises involving time and money. And it has to be the extremest thing possible, because otherwise it would not reach the required thrust to weight ratio with the methane fuel, nor would it reach the required thrust per nozzle area. Its thrust-performance for a first stage is a must, and reaching that with methane as fuel is not easy. Which is why ULA Vulcan is effectively a three-stage rocket with its solid-fuel boosters.

That was f'n GREAT. Thanks

Great explanation Simple, so not burdened with alot of terminology and hitting all the main introductory points Thanks

Can't be more exited , what a wonderful time to be alive ❤

So relieved when you started from the Merlin engine and not the beginning of Rocketry LOL phew!

Thank you for this educational video. Keep up the good work

Thanks GOD!!!! THE VOICE IS BACK!!!!!!❤

Outstanding production. Absolutely awesome

Thank you for the information and keep it up!

The throat is actually where the gas hits supersonic speed. Normally a narrowing the opening like in jet engines would accelerate the gas because of Bernoulli's principal. However at supersonic speed that works backwards.

Actually Raptor originally was designed as a hidrolox engine, they switched to methane for economic reasons. As well as the rest of the industry.

One quick correction. Raptor doesn’t require stage 0 spin start support. We see all stage 2 raptors start in flight and we see a number of stage 1 raptors restart in flight

Nice video, but the Raptor is not the first engine to use two turbines. The space shuttle's RS-25 engines have two fuel rich preburners and turbines. The Raptor is, however, the first full flow staged combustion cycle engine to actually fly, although others have been tested.

Gosh you're just brilliant at explaining these things!

wow, what a awesome video! very well designed and researched and the original voice IS BACK!! One of the best videos I've seen from this channel! And great job explaining how rocket engines work, I finally can begin to understand it! btw, much love to the voice of the last video, nothing personal against him, just prefer your voice!! congratulations on a job well done!

SpaceX wants to make the N-1 only bigger, far more powerful and with the ability to return. But so far, they went a lot further than N-1 ever did. I really hope that they can make it

You got your voice back

16:40 - The starship cannot "connect the solar system", when it needs dozens of (yet to be demonstrated) refuelings to even reach the Moon. Raptor is a great engine. However: - It is still woefully unreliable; improving its reliability will be a monumental challenge. - The design goal was, of course, not to design "the most complex engine", but the one with the greatest specific impulse, as small and light as possible. It was only possible through this complex cycle. -This is not the first time that full flow staged combustion cycle was tried (but it is the first such engine that actually flew.) - Other people use methane; there are at least two other methalox engines that already successfully launched actual payload into orbit - Making a video on SpaceX engine development and not even mentioning Tom Mueller is absurd.

Good video, welcome back ❤

The key to super-high pressure is the CLOSED system in which a portion of the high pressure combustion product goes back to drive the booster pumps. Not an open system. This technology came from the abandoned USSR rocket engines that Ellon used.

We feel the same way as we did when the Wright brothers created the first air plane. Difference now is that we know the impossible can be done when we try hard enough.

At 03:00 the animation puts LOX and RP1 at the same time of arrival at the chamber, which will most likely end up with a detonation. LOX has to lead and RP1 comes a few milliseconds later. Incredible video though

I actually find the guy's voice quite similar to yours . Taking some time off might be beneficial; people often respond negatively to change, so it's important to allow things to settle. The speaker just needs to refine his delivery a bit more to sound less ai-ish.

Yeah, let's build everything like this 12:21 so we can have lots of explosions just like a Michael Bay movie.

4:00 but based on what you just said, we should want the biggest nozzle possible even if that causes separation from the walls

This was so beautifully explained. It felt good to be able to follow along and understand most of it. Well done. Kudos to the entire production team. I am subscribed and will visit DISPLATE. Magnetic wall mounts... pure genius.

Next week: how Americans reinvented the ball and created a game played using the hands and named it "football"!

“Simple and cheap”. Sure sounds fitting!

I don't think your explanation is correct. The pre-burners drives the turbo-pumps by cumbusting some fuel, yes, and the exhaust of the pre-burners is gas that enters the main chamber somewhere... But most of the fuel is still being pumped around the nozzle bell and into the main combustion chamber as liquids, not as a gas. The pre-burners will not be sending their exhausts through the same system as the main burner, the fuel rich likely going closer to the combustion chamber walls, and the oxygen rich more centered.

Thanks for this. Much appreciated.

*SpaceX's Raptor Engine: A Rocket Engine Reinvented* *Here's a summary of the video's key points about the Raptor engine, including starting timestamps:* * *[**0:02**] From Merlin to Raptor:* SpaceX began with the Merlin engine, designed for simplicity and cost-effectiveness. It was crucial for early successes, but needed to evolve. * *[**7:07**] Raptor's fuel: Methane* - A switch from kerosene to methane offers advantages: * Clean burning, leaving no residue. * Enables high reusability for Starship. * *[**9:03**] Raptor's cycle: Full Flow Staged Combustion* * Extremely complex but highly efficient. * Dual gas turbines compared to single turbines in previous engines. * Closed cycle, using all the pressure from gas generators. * Full flow, with both fuel and oxygen passing through pre-burners before the combustion chamber. * *[**12:36**] Raptor's performance:* * Delivers 230 metric tons of thrust at sea level. * Has an unmatched power-to-weight ratio. * Achieves high chamber pressure (300 bar). * *[**14:22**] Future of Raptor:* * Simplification and cost reduction through component integration and removing unnecessary parts. * Mass production for Starship's ambitious goals. * *[**15:53**] Starship's impact:* * Aims to become as commonplace as jetliners. * Will be used for travel between Earth and Mars, Earth and the Moon, and even point-to-point transportation on Earth. * Could be one of the most important vehicles ever created in human history. *The video emphasizes SpaceX's innovative approach to rocket engine design, pushing the boundaries of what's possible.* i used gemini 1.5 flash and pro to summarize the transcript

Good shirt excellent video with plenty of detail. Best one I have seen on the raptor engine.

Grateful for this video! TY !!😊

great simple breakdown and nice video

Wait a moment. You've said that Raptor engines require external stuff on the launch pad to get started. However SpaceX has turned Starship booster engines off and on again on the fly by them own. How is that possible?

Well done. One small comment. Use of the term fuel would be better served with the term propellant

i can connect you to the universe without burning anything -LSD

Great to hear your voice again!😂 👍🏻🙏🏻❤️

thank you

Keep up the good deal and the way ;!

the amazing part is the raptor 3 which is still in testing and not on starship yet has reached up to 350bar. its amazing how much they are improving it and at an incredible speed.

Thanks this explains the new rocket's inner workings ; from old New Orleans 😇🇫🇷

Good video. Another reason they chose methane is because you can produce it from the Martian atmosphere (if you have a water source).

easily the best explanation i have seen.

Excellent video! Recommended watch!

Thank God!! The voice is back😊

At 2:35 there's an error in the subtitles. They say the boiling point of oxygen is 83 degrees, not negative 183 degrees.

Great video. Awesome breakdown

Yay! Favorite narrator is back!

The voice is back, awesome :)

excellent video and an advert that I am interested in.

13:15 including the engine bell in the size comparison is a super weird move. The RS-25 also operates in space and just needs a larger engine bell than the first-stage Raptors. The second stage Raptors are also bigger.

Russia used closed cycle rocket motors captured Fuel pump exhaust energy long ago in 1970s.

Great stuff, as always

Great video dude

Now we gotta do one on the new EVA suit!!

Great video!

Great video, well done, ty!

One detail wrong on the LOX. Gas oxygen is put under pressure until it liquefies. Not cooled until it turns into a liquid.

Thank god the narrator is back

Well done!!

Good one, dude!

This is a good video, only thing, the full flow diagram could be simplified by not having that counter intuitive X configuration in the middle of the GG's for easier following of the fuel and oxidizer paths

Marvelous engineering 😊

The Raptor Engine. I want one...

Great video. Thanks. Can u provide more detail in the raptor design in another video please ?

The Russian engineers invented this system but Space X doubled the concept!!!

Once again, outstanding content. Please keep it up. Others who post daily have a LOT of repeat "click bate". Cheers.

Question: Do I remember correctly that this pre-burn, which results in gases, rather than liquids, entering the combustion chamber was invented by the Soviets? Did/do the Soyuz engines have preburn (or equivalent gasification)?

Great show!!

Nice video!

I personally can not stand how Tesla is run, and I was not impressed with SpaceX initially. However, watching them reliably land their rockets and reusing them has been beyond epic! I just hope that they can get Starship to be even more reliable, since we are planning to send people to space on them.

Starting at 3:00, it goes to say the exhaust gases increase in speed as they go from the throat into the expansion nozzle. Other fluids slow down as the path expands. What part of rocket science am I missing here ?

Awesome video

lets go the normal guy is back the lord is great

FULL FLOW STAGED COMBUSTION!!!

Raptor has under delivered so far. Even at plus 300 psi it performed significantly less than what it was supposed to. Also it's definitely not a re-invention. It's a combination of predominantly Russian rockettechnology and advances in metallurgy. Imho the simplest engine on the market these days is the one from rocketlab and proven to run after dipping in saltwater

Because it is a modular based cluster cell design . So even engine failed you can keep it operational by isolating damaged cells. in this case power out put will be reduced but by the percentage you can figure out list how many motors can provide you enough thrust to keep you safe during a malfunction. Star-link in future will orbit the moon as well. What is possible moon and the earth a satellite link chain like bicycle's chain which will continue and this link will provide communication and a trailing guide for moon ferry so people can go to the moon ,orbiting and back. which is the first steps of Star Track.

if you know the physics and options of Raptor Engine working, it is surely not complicated! it is like an open book and you just need to read it!

Cool video! I have a hard time not getting caught up in the excitement. Still, I have to ask: what are the problems with SpaceX and drawbacks to its engine designs? The technical explanations here are good, but still the positive tone sounds like it comes from a SpaceX press release.

Nice but the real re-invention is air breathing "pre-cooled" rocket with horizontal start (huge saving on LOx - weight -> more payload or less fuel use)