Mission Time
T+00.0 s
Altitude
0.0 km
Velocity / Mach
0 m/s (M0.0)
Total Thrust
90,750 kN
Liftoff TWR / Accel
1.78 (17.4 m/s²)
T+0s
T+160s (MECO)
Super Heavy 33 Raptor 3 Propulsion Architecture
SpaceX's Super Heavy booster is powered by 33 Raptor 3 engines arranged in three concentric structural rings on the 9-meter diameter octaweb:
- Outer Ring (20 engines): Rigid fixed mounts, canted slightly outward. Provide bulk first-stage ascent thrust without gimbal actuators to minimize dry mass.
- Mid Ring (10 engines): Gimbaled up to ±15° for pitch, yaw, and roll aerodynamic steering through transonic ascent and the gravity turn.
- Center Cluster (3 engines): Deep throttling, rapid gimbal, used during liftoff, boostback burn, and the final precision tower catch burn.
Raptor 3 eliminates external fluid heat shields and sensors through integral internal cooling circuits and cast manifold channels, shedding ~550 kg of parasitic mass while raising chamber pressure to 350 bar.
Ascent Dynamics & Counterfactual Physics
This simulator integrates the continuous differential flight equations of motion at 60 Hz:
- Thrust Scaling: F(h) = N_active × [ F_sl + A_e × (P_0 - P(h)) ] × throttle. Raptor 3 thrust increases from 280 tf at sea level to ~305 tf in vacuum.
- Dynamic Pressure (Max-Q): q = 0.5 × ρ(h) × v². At T+65s (Mach 1.2, ~12 km), the vehicle experiences peak atmospheric dynamic loads (~35 kPa).
- Mass Depletion: Initial 5,200 metric tons burns ~21.5 tonnes of liquid methane and liquid oxygen per second across all 33 engines, driving TWR from 1.78 at liftoff to >3.8 before MECO staging.
Use the engine cluster map to toggle individual engine outages or compare Raptor 2 vs Raptor 3 performance under adverse high-altitude wind shear.