Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

CTOnews.com SpaceX is awaiting government approval for the next test flight of the Starship, currently the world's largest rocket, which is completely different from SpaceX's main rocket Falcon 9, which uses Raptor engines to generate millions of pounds of thrust.

The suspension of orbital test flights gives SpaceX an opportunity to accelerate production of Raptor engines, which the company has built nearly 400 of.

Raptor engine production has been one of the key pain points for the Starship program, at least in the early stages of SpaceX's test campaign. This engine is much more powerful than the Merlin engine that powers the Falcon 9 rocket, and it also redirects all the exhaust gases into the combustion chamber to improve fuel efficiency and power output, which requires high-durability parts and new manufacturing processes.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk acknowledged these problems in a detailed speech in 2020, saying that the first starship test will use fewer engines. A year later, in 2021, SpaceX will be able to produce one Raptor engine every two days, suggesting that the company can produce 176 engines a year under optimal conditions, provided the production line runs 24/7. In 2022, the company doubled that rate.

Now, according to an image shared by NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy, SpaceX may have built as many as 398 Raptor rocket engines.

CTOnews.com notes that Melroy's photo shows her standing in front of a fully assembled Raptor engine with a serial number 398 written on it in the upper left corner and visible on its nozzle. SpaceX's newest starship engines are Raptor 2 engines, which, according to CEO Elon Musk, are a lot less complex than Raptor 1.

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