Elon Musk has confirmed that the next-generation Raptor engine is strong enough to not require a heat shield. It will also have more traction and many other improvements.
The American billionaire confirmed that at least four Starship spacecraft have already been assembled and are ready for launch, and also published the following photo.
Under his comment appeared a video recorded at the SpaceX site.
“Exciting news! Four more Starships are ready to embark on their journey, marking the final chapter of V1. ???? Get ready to witness the next stage of innovation and exploration pic.twitter.com/DmQVPP5vzh
– M? B?m X? N?u????????? (@nguyen_ly17684) November 24, 2023
The Raptor engine already allows Starship to have more than twice the thrust of the Saturn V. Walter Isaacson's biography of Elon Musk states that Elon Musk and SpaceX are considering various ideas, such as removing the entire hot fuel gas manifold and combining the fuel pump with the main chamber injector. Elon Musk told his team that all questionable pipes, sensors and manifolds had been removed.
Raptor engine performance is already very good, but the LEET 1337 version will have even higher chamber pressures, which will provide more thrust. SpaceX LEET 1337 engines will be simpler, lighter and cheaper. SpaceX is expected to be able to produce them ten times faster than today.
Starship currently has 6 engines, but Elon said they will add 3 engines to get 9 engines for Starship's upper stage. The future SpaceX Starship may have an additional 3 Raptor engines to increase payload capacity.