15,000,000 pound of thrust is twice the Saturn output. That is huge lift capacity and we will soon welcome a real Low orbit lifter that tosses containers up into low orbit.
We do need the tonnage if we build a spun up dyson sphere capable of a having a one mile diameter and a 1G internal surface max gravity from centrifugal acceleration. It should ideally be a long cylander, but needs to start as a sphere to allow atmospheric capture. Than it can be stepped out a section at a time.
Such a space station can handle star ship repairs inside the central hub operating at zero gravity and dock an unending chain of supply ships. Cargo can be stored near the hub with low acceleration until needed. Then it can be lowered to the deck where needed.
In the meantime all can usually operate ion shirt sleeve environments.
SpaceX Increasing Raptor Engine Power
Brian Wang | September 6, 2020
https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2020/09/spacex-increasing-raptor-engine-power.html
10
SpaceX is increasing the thrust of the Raptor engines to 300 tons of thrust. 28 Raptor engines will provide 7500 tons of thrust for the Super Heavy Booster.
The 15 million pounds of thrust is five times the 3 million pounds of the SLS booster which was tested recently.
The first stage of the Saturn V had 7,600,000 pounds-force of thrust.
The Space Shuttle generated a peak thrust of 6,800,000 lbf (30,100 kN).
The Soviet Energia had a liftoff thrust of 7,826,000 lbf (34,810 kN).
The Raptors will have over 380 seconds of ISP for the vacuum version.
Over time, outer 20 will have ~300 tons of thrust & inner 8 ~210, so roughly 7500 tons total at sea level or 1.5 T/W for booster+ship
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 1, 2020
The first Raptor Vacuum engine (RVac) for Starship has shipped from SpaceX’s rocket factory in Hawthorne, California to our development facility in McGregor, Texas pic.twitter.com/xp2luf6XaI
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) September 5, 2020
Worth noting that thrust is only slightly higher with the big bell nozzle version. Larger bell is primarily for efficiency in vacuum. Aiming for 380+ sec Isp for RVac long-term. Initially likely to be ~372.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 5, 2020
No comments:
Post a Comment