SpaceX
A few hours ago, SpaceX shared this tweet featuring these four amazing photos that were taken during Super Heavy Booster 7's (B7) 31-engine static fire yesterday.
Contrary to what I typed in this previous entry, B7 didn't fire its 31 Raptor 2 engines at full power. Instead, the Raptor 2s 'only' throttled up to 7.9 million pounds (around 3,600 metric tons) of thrust...which is less than half of the vehicle's 17.1 million-pound (about 7,800 metric tons) thrust capability.
Despite the lower performance conducted during yesterday's static fire, the power generated by B7 was still greater than the 7.6 million pounds (over 3,400 metric tons) of thrust that the Saturn V unleashed at liftoff.
And since its four RS-25 engines and twin solid rocket boosters generate a combined 8.8 million pounds (up to 4,000 metric tons) of thrust during flight, NASA's Space Launch System is still the world's most powerful rocket! For the time being, that is.
SpaceX
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