{"id":25380,"date":"2026-06-20T23:11:26","date_gmt":"2026-06-20T15:11:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/spacex-special-research-3-launch-vehicle-engine\/"},"modified":"2026-06-20T23:11:26","modified_gmt":"2026-06-20T15:11:26","slug":"spacex-special-research-3-launch-vehicle-engine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/spacex-special-research-3-launch-vehicle-engine\/","title":{"rendered":"SpaceX Special Research (3): Launch Vehicle Engine"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>1. Merlin engine<\/p>\n<p>(1) Merlin 1C<\/p>\n<p>The main installation targets of Merlin 1C are Falcon 1 and Falcon 9, which have been retired.<\/p>\n<p>1.Basic information<\/p>\n<p>length<\/p>\n<p>quality<\/p>\n<p>fuel<\/p>\n<p>oxidizing agent<\/p>\n<p>combustion chamber<\/p>\n<p>Nozzle cooling method<\/p>\n<p>2.92m<\/p>\n<p>630 <\/p>\n<p>kg<\/p>\n<p>kerosene<\/p>\n<p>liquid oxygen<\/p>\n<p>1<\/p>\n<p>regenerative cooling<\/p>\n<p>2.Performance parameters<\/p>\n<p>thrust<\/p>\n<p>(vacuum)<\/p>\n<p>thrust<\/p>\n<p>(sea level)<\/p>\n<p>specific impulse<\/p>\n<p>(vacuum)<\/p>\n<p>specific impulse<\/p>\n<p>(sea level)<\/p>\n<p>Push-to-mass ratio<\/p>\n<p>480 kN<\/p>\n<p>420 kN<\/p>\n<p>304.8 s<\/p>\n<p>275 s<\/p>\n<p>68<\/p>\n<p>(2) Merlin 1D<\/p>\n<p>Merlin 1D is mainly installed on Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy and is currently in service.<\/p>\n<p>1.Basic information<\/p>\n<p>fuel<\/p>\n<p>oxidizing agent<\/p>\n<p>combustion chamber<\/p>\n<p>fuel cycle method<\/p>\n<p>Thrust adjustment range<\/p>\n<p>kerosene<\/p>\n<p>liquid oxygen<\/p>\n<p>1<\/p>\n<p>gas generator cycle<\/p>\n<p>57%-100%<\/p>\n<p>2.Performance parameters<\/p>\n<p>Thrust (vacuum)<\/p>\n<p>Thrust (sea level)<\/p>\n<p>Specific impulse (vacuum)<\/p>\n<p>Specific impulse (sea level)<\/p>\n<p>934.1 kN<\/p>\n<p>903.0 kN<\/p>\n<p>348s<\/p>\n<p>290s<\/p>\n<p>2. Raptor engine<\/p>\n<p>(1) Raptor 1<\/p>\n<p>Raptor 1 is a full-flow staged combustion cycle liquid oxygen methane rocket engine developed by SpaceX. It is mainly installed in the test version of Starship and has been retired.<\/p>\n<p>1.Basic information<\/p>\n<p>quality<\/p>\n<p>fuel<\/p>\n<p>oxidizing agent<\/p>\n<p>Mixing ratio<\/p>\n<p>Multiple ignition starts<\/p>\n<p>Thrust adjustment range<\/p>\n<p>2000kg<\/p>\n<p>Methane<\/p>\n<p>liquid oxygen<\/p>\n<p>3.6<\/p>\n<p>yes<\/p>\n<p>40%-<\/p>\n<p>100%<\/p>\n<p>2.Performance parameters<\/p>\n<p>Thrust (sea level)<\/p>\n<p>Specific impulse (sea level)<\/p>\n<p>Specific impulse (vacuum)<\/p>\n<p>Push-to-mass ratio<\/p>\n<p>185 t<\/p>\n<p>330s<\/p>\n<p>378s<\/p>\n<p>92.5<\/p>\n<p>(2) Birds of Prey 2<\/p>\n<p>Raptor 2 is a full-flow staged combustion cycle low-temperature liquid oxygen methane rocket engine developed by SpaceX. It is installed on Starship\u2019s Super Heavy and Starship and is currently in service.<\/p>\n<p>1.Basic information<\/p>\n<p>quality<\/p>\n<p>fuel<\/p>\n<p>oxidizing agent<\/p>\n<p>Mixing ratio<\/p>\n<p>Multiple ignition starts<\/p>\n<p>Thrust adjustment range<\/p>\n<p>1600 kg<\/p>\n<p>Methane<\/p>\n<p>liquid oxygen<\/p>\n<p>3.6<\/p>\n<p>yes<\/p>\n<p>40%-100%<\/p>\n<p>2.Performance parameters<\/p>\n<p>Thrust (sea level)<\/p>\n<p>Thrust (vacuum)<\/p>\n<p>Specific impulse (sea level)<\/p>\n<p>Push-to-mass ratio<\/p>\n<p>230 t<\/p>\n<p>260 t<\/p>\n<p>327s<\/p>\n<p>143.75<\/p>\n<p>(3) Raptor 3<\/p>\n<p>Raptor 3 is a full-flow staged combustion cycle low-temperature liquid oxygen methane rocket engine developed by SpaceX. It is installed on the Starship Super Heavy and Starship and is currently under development.<\/p>\n<p>1.Basic information<\/p>\n<p>quality<\/p>\n<p>fuel<\/p>\n<p>oxidizing agent<\/p>\n<p>Multiple ignition starts<\/p>\n<p>1525 kg<\/p>\n<p>Methane<\/p>\n<p>liquid oxygen<\/p>\n<p>yes<\/p>\n<p>2.Performance<\/p>\n<p>thrust<\/p>\n<p>(sea level)<\/p>\n<p>Specific impulse (vacuum)<\/p>\n<p>Push-to-mass ratio<\/p>\n<p>280t<\/p>\n<p>350s<\/p>\n<p>183.6<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>1. Merlin engine (1) Merlin 1C The main installation targets of Merlin 1C are Falcon 1 and Falcon 9, which have been retired. 1.Basic information length quality fuel oxidizing agent combustion chamber Nozzle cooling method 2.92m 630 kg kerosene liquid oxygen 1 regenerative cooling 2.Performance parameters thrust (vacuum) thrust (sea level) specific impulse (vacuum) specific [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25380","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25380"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25380"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25380\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25380"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25380"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25380"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}