The delays in the FCC approval for the first SpaceX Super Heavy Starship orbital flight will give SpaceX the time to replace all of the old Raptor rocket engines with new 15% more powerful Raptor 2 engines.
The first Starship orbital flight will be with Raptor 2 engines, as they are much more capable and reliable. 230 ton or ~500k lb thrust at sea level. The old original Raptor engines were at about 200 tons of thrust at sea level.
Starship SN20 and Super Heavy Booster 4 will be retired and there will be a new Starship and new Booster.
First Starship orbital flight will be with Raptor 2 engines, as they are much more capable & reliable. 230 ton or ~500k lb thrust at sea level.
We’ll have 39 flightworthy engines built by next month, then another month to integrate, so hopefully May for orbital flight test.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 21, 2022
SpaceX will stop making the Crew Dragon vehicle. They will finish the fourth crew dragon which flies astronauts and human tourists into space and usually to the ISS. SpaceX will then only make parts to maintain the reusable Crew Dragon. Four reusable vehicles is the number of space shuttles that NASA operated.
SOURCES- Elon Musk, SpaceX
Written By Brian Wang, NExtbigfuture.com
Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
Known for identifying cutting edge technologies, he is currently a Co-Founder of a startup and fundraiser for high potential early-stage companies. He is the Head of Research for Allocations for deep technology investments and an Angel Investor at Space Angels.
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