It’s arduous to think about the quantity of thrust wanted to launch an area shuttle into orbit, not to mention one as huge as SpaceX’s Starship. However, the corporate’s Raptor engines just do the trick, even when they want practically 40 of them to finish the spacecraft’s journey. So, how highly effective are they?

Each Raptor engine has a thrust of 230 ton-force (tf) or 507 kip-force (klbf). Considering the Super Heavy has 33 whole engines, which means it is outputting 7,590 ton-force to get the Starship (plus the booster) off the bottom and into area. For comparability, the GEnx-2B Engine that powers a Boeing 747-8 creates 66,500 lb of thrust in comparison with the 507,063 pound-force from every Raptor engine. 

However, the SpaceX propulsion crew did not cease there. In May 2023, Elon Musk tweeted that the SpaceX engineers achieved much more thrust with the Raptor V3. The latest model of the area rocket achieved 269 tons of thrust, placing the Super Heavy Booster’s whole thrust at 8,877 tons or 19.5 million kilos. 

On the opposite hand, the Raptor Vacuum engines boast a bigger exhaust and growth nozzle, which will increase their effectivity and possesses extra thrust than the usual Raptors (particularly in area). The engines output 258 tf, giving Starship 774 tons of pressure (from simply three RVacs) after separation in area.