The Competition of the Methalox engines

[Solarsail]

Might or might not be an interesting note, but the Raptor series has seen at least one engine reused between flights:  SN-6 on Starhopper.  If we count the brief hops it did as flights.  The TQ-12 has also flown on a landing testbed, though only for a single flight.

[Hug]

Can we have a comparison of the Archimedes vs Miranda* vs Aeon-R?

Sure, I'm just doing a vac engine comparison just to simplify things for me.

Engine	Aeon R	Archimedes	Miranda
Thrust (kN)	1241	890	890
Vac ISP (s)	360*	367	328

*Aeon R Vac ISP is going off Aeon 1 Vac ISP. There are arguments that it might be lower, but eh they're probably putting some extra work into it. Miranda Vac ISP is really meh in the context of Merlin 1D hitting 346 or 348s as a gas generator. Thrust is obviously just by vehicle necessity, so it's hard to make meaningful comparisons. Dev timeline might be the other interesting metric, as that's what they're all racing towards. Definitive start dates might be hard to find though. All engines are obviously throttable, relightable and reusable; so that's kinda meaningless as well.

A reasonable set of LV engines but nothing truly special.

[edzieba]

Updated table with TQ-12:

-	Raptor	BE-4	TQ-12
Operate on test stand	Completed	Completed	Completed
Complete static fire	Completed	Completed	Completed
Ignite and lift off for flight	Completed	Completed	Completed
Complete first stage/booster burn successfully	Completed	Completed	Completed
Reignite for boostback	Partially Completed	No attempt	No attempt
Complete boostback burn successfully	Attempt failed	No attempt	No attempt
Reignite for landing	Partially Completed (upper stage only)	Not yet attempted	No attempt
Complete landing burn successfully	Partially Completed (upper stage only)	Not yet attempted	No attempt
Ignite for upper stage	Completed	No attempt	Completed
Complete upper stage insertion burn successfully	Attempt failed	No attempt	Completed
Ignite for in-orbit / deorbit burn	Not yet attempted	No attempt	?
Complete in-orbit / deorbit burn successfully	Not yet attempted	No attempt	?
Be re-used for flight	Not yet attempted	Not yet attempted	No attempt

Updated:

-	Raptor	BE-4	TQ-12
Operate on test stand	Completed	Completed	Completed
Complete static fire	Completed	Completed	Completed
Ignite and lift off for flight	Completed	Completed	Completed
Complete first stage/booster burn successfully	Completed	Completed	Completed
Reignite for boostback	Completed	No attempt	No attempt
Complete boostback burn successfully	Completed	No attempt	No attempt
Reignite for landing	Attempt failed (booster)/Completed (ship)	Not yet attempted	No attempt
Complete landing burn successfully	Not yet attempted (booster)/Completed (ship)	Not yet attempted	No attempt
Ignite for upper stage	Completed	No attempt	Completed
Complete upper stage insertion burn successfully	Completed	No attempt	Completed
Ignite for in-orbit / deorbit burn	Attempt aborted	No attempt	?
Complete in-orbit / deorbit burn successfully	Attempt aborted	No attempt	?
Be re-used for flight	Not yet attempted	Not yet attempted	No attempt

Updated:

-	Raptor	BE-4	TQ-12
Operate on test stand	Completed	Completed	Completed
Complete static fire	Completed	Completed	Completed
Ignite and lift off for flight	Completed	Completed	Completed
Complete first stage/booster burn successfully	Completed	Completed	Completed
Reignite for boostback	Completed	No attempt	No attempt
Complete boostback burn successfully	Completed	No attempt	No attempt
Reignite for landing	Completed	Not yet attempted	No attempt
Complete landing burn successfully	Completed	Not yet attempted	No attempt
Ignite for upper stage	Completed	No attempt	Completed
Complete upper stage insertion burn successfully	Completed	No attempt	Completed
Ignite for in-orbit / deorbit burn	Attempt aborted	No attempt	?
Complete in-orbit / deorbit burn successfully	Attempt aborted	No attempt	?
Be re-used for flight	Not yet attempted	Not yet attempted	No attempt