00:01When you look at these Raptor tests from Fall 2023, at first glance you see exactly what SpaceX always shows.
00:10Fire, smoke and a lot of noise.
00:13But what these tests are really about isn't in the flames, it's in what happens before and after.
00:20Because a lunar lander is a system that has to do a lot of things right at the same time
00:25in a very tight time window.
00:27There is no second chance.
00:29You come from lunar orbit with several kilometers per second of relative velocity.
00:35You have no atmosphere, no parachute, no way to bleed off kinetic energy.
00:40All you have is thrust, control, navigation and very little room for error.
00:45The engine must be able to throttle way down, run with extreme stability and respond to the smallest control inputs.
00:53And that's exactly the difference between getting a Raptor to work and getting a Raptor to work as a landing
00:59engine.
01:01The End
01:02The End
01:02The End
01:03The End
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