SpaceX Raptor rocket engine broke the record of the Russian RD-180

At the end of 2018, during the next correspondence inTwitter, the founder of SpaceX, Ilon Musk, mentioned the Russian RD-180 rocket engine. He recognized his design as “brilliant” and hinted that Boeing and Lockheed should be ashamed of its use in the Atlas rocket. He promised that his Raptor engine would outstrip the Russian development, and kept his word - it became known that the rocket engine for the Starship spacecraft had outpaced the RD-180 in terms of the pressure level in the combustion chamber.

New achievement Ilon Musk shared on Twitter11 February. Until now, the record belonged to the Russian RD-180 engine - according to the research and production association Energomash, the pressure inside its combustion chamber is 266.7 bar. Raptor is not much higher, but the record is clearly broken - the pressure reached 268.9 bar.

Today Raptor has reached 268.9 bars and has broken the previous record set by the magnificent Russian RD-180. Great job from the SpaceX testing team!

Ilon Musk, head of Space X and Tesla

Recall that in early February the Raptor enginesuccessfully passed fire tests. The test mock-up has only three engines, however up to 7 engines will be included in the final version. They will be used in the starship spacecraft, which will first fly to the moon, and then head for Mars.

The Russian engine RD-180 was created in the mid-1990s. It is actively used in the first stages of the American Atlas carrier rockets, the rights to which are owned by Lockheed Martin.

What do you think, when the pressure level in the combustion chambers of rocket engines exceeds 300 bar for the “impossible”? Feel free to write your suggestions in the comments or in our Telegram chat!