SpaceX propulsion just achieved first firing of the Raptor interplanetary transport engine pic.twitter.com/vRleyJvBkx
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 26, 2016
What a wonderful tease for tomorrow!
Raptor is highly needed for SpaceX. Current second stage on Falcon 9 gets isp 348 in space while this one is 382 in space. Now I don't actually know what these numbers mean, but Kerbal Space Program tells me the second is a lot more efficient. A falcon 9 with a raptor second stage could significantly increase its load. Same with a Falcon Heavy.
Plus this is the engine that will send us to Mars.
