ULA chief congratulates SpaceX on Raptor 3 engine test

United Launch Alliance (ULA) President and CEO, Tory Bruno has congratulated SpaceX on the first fire test of the Raptor 3 engine. However, Bruno’s attention to this matter has a backstory.

Earlier this month, Elon Musk, Founder of SpaceX shared the first visuals of Raptor 3 engine on social media site X. The engine has drastically cut volume and weight from the design specifications. The major changes are all there on the top region of the engine.

Reacting to this image, Bruno wrote “They have done an excellent job making the assembly simpler and more producible. So, there is no need to exaggerate this by showing a partially assembled engine without controllers, fluid management, or TVC systems, then comparing it to fully assembled engines that do.”

In other words, Bruno said the engine’s design is now at a stage where it’s unnecessary to artificially simplify its appearance to highlight the improvements in assembly. The engine’s complexity is justified by its launch readiness compared to an incomplete version.

Earlier today, Musk posted a photograph of the Raptor 3 engine performing its first test fire. In the comment section, Bruno posted “Congratulations”.

Gwynne Shotwell, President and COO of SpaceX also posted the engine of this firing Raptor 3 engine with a quote “Works pretty good for a partially assembled engine”.

Revealing more information about the design advancement, the SpaceX chief said Raptor 3 has removed all of the small plumbing and wiring or integrated inside the primary structure. This is due to the reason the Raptor 3 doesn’t have a heat shield. The rocket maker took this step to cool the engine actively in real time with regenerative cooling.

An example of regenerative cooling can be seen on the neck above the nozzle and how it cools down the engine. In the first image, the neck is painted black but the part appears white due to cooling.

SpaceX Raptor 3 Engine Fire Test (Source – X/Twitter)

You can check the comparison and some specifications of Raptor 3 in the post linked below.

SpaceX Raptor 1 vs Raptor 2 vs Raptor 3: Side by side comparison