SpaceX’s Raptor Production Problem & Its Importance
The process of creating and launching a successful rocket is an incredible feat. Practically every aspect from development, to manufacturing, launching, failures, and cost, are just some of the endless challenges. This especially is the case when creating a completely unique and innovative launch vehicle. SpaceX has been hard at work on everything Starship including the necessary Raptor engines.
SpaceX is currently having some issues in the Raptor engine production process. This is due to the complexity of the engine and the challenge of scaling production. The Raptor engine plays a key role in future Starship launches, Starlink deployment, and even possible bankruptcy. All of which require SpaceX to be capable of consistently and efficiently producing high-quality Raptor engines.
The engine of a rocket is one of the most important and complex parts. Each engine plays a necessary role in not only launching but landing future Starship models. With future Starship models expected to have 39 Raptor engines on a single rocket, SpaceX needs Raptor production to be perfect. This is the main challenge SpaceX is facing that is risking future plans of the company.
What Exactly Is The Problem?
Over the past years, SpaceX has been hard at work developing, manufacturing, and testing the Raptor engine. This is working towards the goal of future Starship launches as the Raptor engine is used on both the first and second stages. Raptor is an extremely complex, efficient, and powerful engine. Currently, SpaceX is in the process of upgrading past Raptor versions by making them more powerful, efficient and reducing the plumbing. However, SpaceX managed to develop and create an incredible rocket engine, but they now have to produce them in mass numbers. This is the exact issue SpaceX is facing.
The production process is an extremely complicated aspect of creating practically any product in large quantities. Elon has specifically mentioned multiple times the difficulty of production for different companies and products including Tesla, SpaceX, and Starship especially. Due to the ambitious future plans of Starship, along with the number of engines on a single rocket, production needs to be scaled up quite significantly. This is the process SpaceX is in right now and it’s not going very smoothly. In addition, the vice president of propulsion for SpaceX is no longer working with the company. All of these different factors and complications have combined to create quite a significant issue that SpaceX needs to solve.
Impacts Of Raptor Production Problems
Starlink – The first future plan of SpaceX the Raptor production problem is impacting has to do with Starlink. Over the last few years, SpaceX has been consistently launching Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit on the Falcon 9. So far the private company has launched around 2,000 satellites out of a future constellation goal of 42,000. The Falcon 9 has played an important role, however, Starship is planned to takeover and speed up the Starlink launching process. With its increased size, Starship is expected to carry around 400 Starlink satellites in a single launch.
This is almost 7 times as much as the current Falcon 9 capabilities. Not only is Starship able to carry a lot more satellites, but it also is much more powerful. SpaceX’s next major step in Starlink deployment is launching a large amount of version 2 Starlink satellites. This is where the major problem arises in relation to the Raptor development problem. SpaceX has mentioned that the Falcon 9 has neither the volume nor the mass to orbit needed for satellite V2. This means that Starship success is necessary for future Starlink launches and success as well. This all comes back to the Raptor production problem impacting future Starship launches.
Starship Launches – Another aspect of SpaceX’s future that this impacts significantly are general Starship launches. SpaceX has very ambitious plans for the future that revolve around Starship. This includes many launches to Earth’s orbit, the Moon, and even Mars. Additionally, Starship is in the middle of an aggressive testing campaign that requires a constant stream of Raptor engines. Rocket development and testing is an extremely difficult part of the process. One of the reasons for this is your test articles often get destroyed or blown up. The current Starship prototype has 35 engines installed and is going to attempt the first orbital test flight very soon. This specific Starship prototype is practically guaranteed to be destroyed considering if everything goes perfect it will land in the ocean. Future test models will require even more Raptor engines. This combined with future plans of consistent launches and the problem becomes very clear. SpaceX needs to produce a mass amount of Raptor engines extremely efficiently and consistently. If not, it could have a very negative impact on the future of Starship and more.
Bankruptcy – The final risk surrounding the Raptor production problem is possible bankruptcy. In an email from Musk, he mentioned “What it comes down to is that we face genuine risk of bankruptcy if we cannot achieve a Starship flight rate of at least once every two weeks next year,” he wrote. Each of the reasons I mentioned prior plays into the possibility of SpaceX running out of money. Building and launching rockets is very expensive. Each factor of the rocket from the size, complexity, infrastructure required, testing, and much more require a constant stream of money. SpaceX has a few ways of making money but the plan for a while has been Starlink providing the majority of funding. While SpaceX has already started launching satellites, they are only scratching the surface. Additionally, Elon mentioned that “Satellite V1 by itself is financially weak, whereas V2 is strong.” The future risk of Starlink has a direct impact on the funding and success of SpaceX as well. This all comes back to future Starship launches and the Raptor production problem.
SpaceX Solution & Future
What will SpaceX’s future look like and what are the chances of the company actually going bankrupt? I just mentioned multiple problems along with the major impact they are having and could have on SpaceX. However, this does not mean that SpaceX is guaranteed to fail. In reality, SpaceX has multiple factors going in their favor for the future of Raptor production. The first has to do with future production sites for Raptor engines. Currently, SpaceX is producing Raptor engines at its headquarters in Hawthrone, California.
SpaceX is also in the process of building a new factory in Mcgregor, Texas. This factory will be responsible for the large-scale production of Raptor engines. Musk has mentioned that the factory in Mcgregor will focus on mass production of Raptor 2 engines while the factory in California will work on the vacuum and experimental designs. This will play a very important role in solving the production problem with Raptor. Additionally, Musk has been through this exact problem before. Specifically, Musk faced a similar issue with producing a mass amount of cars for Tesla. Elon along with the company was able to solve that issue and hopefully, SpaceX can do the same with Raptor.
Conclusion
SpaceX has been working hard on everything Starship. One specific component that is extremely complex and important is the Raptor engines. However, SpaceX is now having some major issues in the production process. This could have a big impact on SpaceX’s future plans including Starlink, Starship launches, and possible bankruptcy. Practically all of SpaceX’s future plans revolve around consistently and efficiently producing Raptor engines. While this challenge is very serious and complex, it is possible. We will have to wait and see SpaceX’s solution along with the impact it has on the company’s future plans.
