Starship· guided tour

Vacuum Raptors

RVac

The other three engines have huge bells built only for space, where there is no air to squeeze the exhaust, so a wider bell can turn more of the burn into speed.

How many

Isp, vacuum

380 s

Nozzle

Extended for vacuum

How it works

Same fuel, same basic engine, a bell shaped for a different job, exactly the idea behind Falcon 9’s own sea-level and vacuum Merlins, just applied to Starship’s Raptors.

For the grown-up

Raptor Vacuum trades the sea-level engine’s compact bell for a much larger expansion ratio, the same efficiency-for-altitude trade Falcon 9’s MVac makes over the sea-level Merlin, reaching 380 s against the sea-level engine’s 347 s.

SpaceX Raptor