Elon Musk confirmed that the next-generation Raptor engine is so powerful that it does not need a heat shield. It will also have more traction and a host of other improvements.

The American billionaire confirmed that at least four Starship spacecraft are already assembled and ready for launch, and also posted the photo below.

A video recorded by SpaceX appeared under his comment.

The Raptor engine currently allows Starship to have more than twice the thrust of the Saturn V. Walter Isaacson’s biography of Elon Musk notes that Elon Musk and SpaceX considered various ideas, such as removing the entire hot fuel gas manifold and combining the fuel pump. with a nozzle main chamber. Elon Musk told his team that all suspicious tubes, sensors and manifolds were removed.

The performance of the Raptor engines is already very good, but the LEET 1337 version will have more pressure in the chamber, which will provide more thrust. SpaceX LEET 1337 engines will be simpler, lighter and cheaper. SpaceX is expected to be able to produce them ten times faster than today.

Starship currently has 6 engines, but Elon said they will add 3 engines to get 9 engines for Starship’s upper stage. Future SpaceX Starship may have 3 additional Raptor engines for increased payload capacity.