Rocket Report: China wants a Raptor 3 engine; SpaceX set for big Starship test

Chinese space company reveals Raptor 3-like engine design. The Chinese launch startup Space Pioneer, which has raised nearly $1 billion, showcased a new design for its Tianhuo-21 methane-liquid oxygen engine this week, which was subsequently shared on social media. From outward appearances, the engine looks strikingly similar to SpaceX’s Raptor 3 engine. Its thrust, 2,450 kN at sea level, is also virtually identical to that of the Raptor 3.

Would it be difficult to replicate? … In response to Space Pioneer’s engine design, SpaceX founder Elon Musk said copying Raptor 3 would not be easy. “I would recommend against a new company trying to make Raptor 3,” he said on X. “While it appears simple on the outside (necessary to survive extreme heat without a heat shield), the inside has very complex geometry that can only be manufactured using highly modified 3D metal printing.”

Falcon Heavy nailed Roman telescope’s launch. NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is gliding toward its distant observation post on a pinpoint trajectory so precise that engineers estimate the spacecraft’s fuel load will last twice as long as their initial expectations, Ars reports. The $4.3 billion observatory’s designers originally planned to load enough propellant into Roman’s four fuel tanks for a minimum lifetime of five years, plus a potential five-year mission extension.

That was a conservative estimate … “As a result of exquisite planning by our orbital dynamics team, brilliant execution by the operations team, and a precise launch from SpaceX, Roman has fuel for at least 22 years of potential science operations,” Jamie Dunn, center director at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, said. The Roman telescope launched August 30 from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket, kicking off a mission to widen our view of the Universe.

Blue Origin studying full-flow staged combustion. Blue Origin and the Rocket and Space Propulsion Division of the Air Force Research Laboratory at Edwards Air Force Base have announced an expanded private-public partnership to develop new rocket propulsion technologies, the company said this week. The new agreement comes as “we work to develop next-generation rocket propulsion technologies,” said Nicholas Robertson, senior vice president of engines at Blue Origin. “Studying these historic and technical artifacts grounds our engineering models in real government research.”

Also working on lunar-lander engine … The Blue Origin news release notes that the Air Force lab has done pioneering work in oxygen-rich and full-flow staged combustion technologies. The company said it would also continue to collaborate on testing and maturing the BE-7 lunar lander rocket engine with the Air Force at the Area 1-42 High Altitude Rocket Test Facility at Edwards.