Starship Flight 7 booster will reuse the Flight 5 Raptor engine

SpaceX Starship Flight 7 will conduct various in-flight tests with new improvements and this rocket will reuse a Raptor engine that was first employed with Flight 5 after the launch tower catch.

With Flight 5, the first stage landed vertically on the launch tower arms, which marked the first-ever catch for a large object of this size. This booster was recovered from the chopsticks and later transferred to the starship factory for refurbishment. However, SpaceX has not shared any updates on the recovered booster.

In the following flight, SpaceX employed a new booster but failed to attempt the booster catch due to some issues in the launch tower, which occurred after the integrated flight left the launch pad.

SpaceX Starship Super Heavy Booster Static Fire

Thereafter, the returning booster was deflected to the Gulf of Mexico for a soft landing. Starship’s first stage equips 33 Raptor engines, consuming sub-cooled liquid methane and liquid oxygen.

It has a propellant capacity of 3,400 tons and generates a total of 7,590 tf thrust at sea level when these engines ignite all together to take the flight into the air.

Raptor engines are the center of Starship’s rapid development, these are customized for its massive propulsion system. The newer version is even more efficient and space-friendly than its predecessor.

Yet reusability is the final aim of the Starship test program, thus, installing a used Raptor engine in Flight 7 will enable the company to test its existing engine design and its reusability factor as well as how to improve it with future test missions.

Check more information about the flight 7 improvements below.

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