> During an April interview, SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell discussed a project with similar characteristics, describing engines with "more than 1.5 million pounds" of thrust.
For comparison, 6.7MN (1.5 million pounds) was roughly the thrust of Saturn V's F-1 engines (it had 5 on first stage and that many J-2 — at a mere 4.4MN each — on second stage), and it had an LEO payload quite a bit under those asserted here (120t).
Going beyond that means SpaceX is going to compete with the Zenit's RD-171 (~8MN), which is the current holder of "most powerful liquid-fuel rocket engine" title (the shuttle boosters are the holder of "most powerful rocket engine" title at more than 12MN each).
The Merlin page[0] seems to confirm that, suggesting the Merlin 2 is planned for around 8.5MN. That's absolutely enormous.
You still have to wonder how many of these things they'll put on a rocket to get it to push the expected 200t to LEO: the original Energia only lifted 100t to LEO with 4 zenit boosters (so 4xRD-170) and its own engines (4xRD-0120 at 2MN each), there were plans to have a 200t-lifting Energia… by strapping 8 zenits to it
For comparison, 6.7MN (1.5 million pounds) was roughly the thrust of Saturn V's F-1 engines (it had 5 on first stage and that many J-2 — at a mere 4.4MN each — on second stage), and it had an LEO payload quite a bit under those asserted here (120t).
Going beyond that means SpaceX is going to compete with the Zenit's RD-171 (~8MN), which is the current holder of "most powerful liquid-fuel rocket engine" title (the shuttle boosters are the holder of "most powerful rocket engine" title at more than 12MN each).
The Merlin page[0] seems to confirm that, suggesting the Merlin 2 is planned for around 8.5MN. That's absolutely enormous.
You still have to wonder how many of these things they'll put on a rocket to get it to push the expected 200t to LEO: the original Energia only lifted 100t to LEO with 4 zenit boosters (so 4xRD-170) and its own engines (4xRD-0120 at 2MN each), there were plans to have a 200t-lifting Energia… by strapping 8 zenits to it
[0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merlin_(rocket_engine)#Merlin_2