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Now, Kirasich has provided an update on SpaceX's fully reusable Starship launch system, stating that the private space firm is building one of its next-generation Raptor engines every day.for the first time in more than three years. That rocket uses 27 Merlin engines and it is the world's most powerful operational rocket. All going to plan though, it will soon be stripped of that title by Starship.
"SpaceX has moved very quickly on development," Kirasich explained during the Advisory Council. "We've seen them manufacture what was called Raptor 1.0. They have since upgraded to Raptor 2.0 that first of all increases performance and thrust and secondly reduces the amount of parts, reducing the amount of time to manufacture and test. They build these things very fast. Their goal was seven engines a week, and they hit that about a quarter ago.
To put that impressive manufacturing speed into perspective, NASA awarded startup Aerojet Rocketdyne a contract worth $1.16 billion in 2015 to restart the production line for the RS-25 engine for. The RS-25 produces approximately 510,000 pounds of thrust, which is practically the same as SpaceX's Raptor 2 engine. The goal for Aerojet Rocketdyne, as set out in the terms of NASA's contract, was to produce four RS-25 engines per year.
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