Отправлено: 04.11.13 22:45. Заголовок: Холивар Raptor vs РД0164

http://www.spacenews.com/article/launch-report/37859spacex-could-begin-testing-methane-fueled-engine-at-stennis-next-year
Цитата
SpaceX’s Raptor engine is designed to generate more than 661,000 pounds of thrust in a vacuum, Shanklin said. SpaceX founder and Chief Executive Elon Musk has mentioned Raptor before, sometimes in connection with notional plans to colonize Mars. The Raptor name has been applied to multiple SpaceX concept engines, including one that would have been fueled by hydrogen.
The current Raptor concept “is a highly reusable methane staged-combustion engine that will power the next generation of SpaceX launch vehicles designed for the exploration and colonization of Mars,” Shanklin said. “The Raptor engine currently in development is the first in what we expect to be a family of engines.”
Staged combustion, also called closed-loop combustion, will be a new trick for SpaceX. The company’s Merlin family of kerosene-fueled rocket engines, currently in use on its Falcon 9 rocket, use an open-cycle, gas-generator configuration. Given identical fuel-oxidizer mixtures and propellant flow volumes, a closed-loop engine is more efficient than one with an open loop configuration.
Имеем два двигателя с практически одинаковыми тягой, топливом и назначением.