SpaceX\u2019s engine testing facility on 4,300 acres of land in McGregor, Texas, just south of the city of Waco, is undergoing new development and testing related to the Raptor engine for Starship and Super Heavy.<\/p>\n
With five test bays, the facility will soon become a hub for Raptor 2 engine assembly, with a new factory now under construction. This is taking place as Merlin engine and stage testing related to upcoming Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy flights continues.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The McGregor facility, originally the location of the Bluebonnet Ordnance Plant, was used during World War 2 to manufacture bombs. After the war, parts of the facility were used to make housewares, until Phillips Petroleum came along, starting JATO bottle and ammonium nitrate production. Later, Rocketdyne and Hercules Corporation would use the premises to make propellant for Sidewinders and other missiles.<\/p>\n
The facility was cleaned up of ammonium perchlorate contamination in the mid-1990s, and the city of McGregor acquired 3,500 acres out of the original 9,600 acres that the facility used. Beal Aerospace started using McGregor for testing its BA-810 engine, at the time the largest liquid engine tested since Apollo. However, Beal folded after three years of operation due to a collapsing satellite launch market and losing out on NASA funding.<\/p>\n
SpaceX leased the facility from the city of McGregor and started operations there in 2003, a year after the company was founded by then-millionaire Elon Musk, who had cofounded PayPal before selling it to eBay. The Merlin 1A engine started tests in McGregor on March 11, 2003. After the 1A model was used for the first two Falcon 1 launches starting in 2006, attention turned to the improved Merlin 1C, and then the 1D for the Falcon 9 v1.1.<\/p>\n
The facility expanded over the years, getting a large test stand known as the \u201cTripod\u201d for Falcon 9 first stage test firings as well as other testing infrastructure such as a stand to test second stages. The facility branched out into flight testing, and flights of the \u201cGrasshopper\u201d rocket started in 2012.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n