A booster with the fastest turnaround for reuse, with 5 flights on his record, landing at high winds and waves back on earth, delivering a s***load of Starlink satellites to orbit. They really nail their stuff.
The SpaceX Raptor "I'll never really look at this engine the same way again. This video is an extremely simplified cutaway of SpaceX's Raptor engine, currently in use powering the company's Starship prototypes. Even the simplified diagram really shows the level of engineering that goes into starting just one of these engines, and that really puts the engineering challenges of starting 28 of these on a Super Heavy Booster into perspective." Raptor Startup Sequence: -Several minutes before ignition, cryogenic fuel is run through the engine to avoid thermal shocks at startup. -High pressure gas spins up both the Methane Turbopump and the Oxygen Turbopump. -Cryogenic methane flows through the walls of the nozzle and combustion chamber to keep the engine from melting. -After flowing through the nozzle, the methane is mixed with a small amount of liquid oxygen in the Fuel-Rich Preburner. -A small amount of liquid methane is also mixed with the oxygen in the Oxygen-Rich Preburner. -Both preburners ignite. -Exhaust from the preburners spin turbines that now power the turbopumps. -The exhaust from the Fuel-Rich Preburner consists of hot methane gas. -The exhaust from the Oxygen-Rich Preburner consists of hot oxygen gas. -Both gases enter the combustion chamber and mix through Coaxial Swirl Injectors. -The main chamber ignites. Animated Starship Plumbing Diagram V2 "Key: Red - Liquid Methane Blue - Liquid Oxygen This is a remake of an earlier video I made showing the internal plumbing of SpaceX's Starship prototype. Based on new information, I decided to remake the video to have a more accurate video that I think gets the information across better."
Awesome. And still in one piece on the pad ~2h after landing. "On Wednesday, May 5, Starship serial number 15 (SN15) successfully completed SpaceX’s fifth high-altitude flight test of a Starship prototype from Starbase in Texas. Similar to previous high-altitude flight tests of Starship, SN15 was powered through ascent by three Raptor engines, each shutting down in sequence prior to the vehicle reaching apogee – approximately 10 km in altitude. SN15 performed a propellant transition to the internal header tanks, which hold landing propellant, before reorienting itself for reentry and a controlled aerodynamic descent. The Starship prototype descended under active aerodynamic control, accomplished by independent movement of two forward and two aft flaps on the vehicle. All four flaps were actuated by an onboard flight computer to control Starship’s attitude during flight and enabled precise landing at the intended location. SN15’s Raptor engines reignited as the vehicle performed the landing flip maneuver immediately before touching down for a nominal landing on the pad. A great day for the Starship teams – these test flights are all about improving our understanding and development of a fully reusable transportation system designed to carry both crew and cargo on long-duration interplanetary flights, and help humanity return to the Moon, and travel to Mars and beyond. Congratulations to the entire Starship and SpaceX teams on SN15’s successful flight test!"