Is SpaceX's Raptor engine the king of rocket engines?

Why HN readers recommended it

HN commenters send people here as the best accessible starting point for understanding why Raptor and fuel choice matter for Starship.

This is a summary from the source dataset, not an endorsement by Hacker News or the video creator.

Video & recommendation details

Creator / channel

Everyday Astronaut

Topic

rocket engines

Format

explainer

Level

intro

HN recommenders in dataset

4

HN mentions in dataset

6

Recommendation years in dataset

2019–2022

These counts and years describe the included Hacker News records; they are not YouTube views or the video’s publication date.

From the original HN conversations

Excerpts from the recorded comments. Follow each source for the full comment and surrounding discussion.

• NASA's big project for launch is a disposable rocket using Space Shuttle technology. It will cost at least a billion dollars per launch. SpaceX's project is a fully reusable rocket, with rapid turnaround because it uses methane fuel in the world's first clean-burning full-flow engine. …

• Because the assumptions made for one class of payload don't apply to another class of payload with vastly different mission specifications. A great place to start is this amazing video by The Everyday Astronaut: [VIDEO] Notice how the type of fuel used itself is a …

• Starship is a pretty radical redesign with the main goal being reusability. Everything about it is with reusability and and thus scale in mind. A new engine was needed because while the Merlin is a great engine, it could never be reused the thousands of …