--- title: "Elon Musk: Starship Super Heavy Will Have 41 Raptor Engines" description: "SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has big plans for the Starship: a \"Super Heavy\" variant will feature up to 41 Raptor engines, 35 of which will be used as a booster." date: "2019-07-22" modified: "2019-07-22" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/elon-musk-starship-super-heavy" categories: - "Elon Musk" - "Future Society" - "Space" - "SpaceX" - "Starship" - "The Industrialists" tags: - "elon musk" - "raptor engine" - "SpaceX" - "starhopper" - "Starship" - "the digest" --- # Elon Musk: Starship Super Heavy Will Have 41 Raptor Engines ![SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has big plans for the Starship: a "Super Heavy" variant will feature up to 41 Raptor engines, 35 of which will be used as a booster.]() *\Image: SpaceX/Victor Tangermann\* ## The BFR While SpaceX's Starship prototype has yet to fly untethered — a test flight that's slated for [later this week]() — CEO Elon Musk has big plans for the rocket: a "Super Heavy" variant of Starship, he says, will feature up to 41 Raptor engines. A Super Heavy Starship of that caliber would most certainly be the most powerful rocket ever built. "Starship Super Heavy with 35 Raptors," Musk [tweeted]() on Sunday. "Full stack is 41 \[right now\], but kinda beggin' for just one more …" [he added](). ## Absolute Unit To put that number into perspective, the "Starhopper" prototype that was engulfed in a [massive fireball]() last week only features one Raptor engine. *Teslarati* [estimates that]() all Raptor engines combined could give the rocket double the thrust of NASA's iconic Saturn V rocket or its Space Launch System, which is [in development]() right now. 35 Raptor engines will act as a first stage to get the rocket past the Earth's atmosphere. A further six — the Starship itself — will bring it into orbit and through space to far away places including the Moon and perhaps even Mars. ## Massive Proportions All that thrust will require an extremely robust launch pad, but luckily SpaceX has thought about that as well. "Starship launch structure is being built off-site in steel subsections," [Musk tweeted]() on Saturday. **READ MORE:** [SpaceX’s Elon Musk says Starship, Super Heavy will have more than 40 Raptor engines]() \[Teslarati\] **More on Starship:** *[Elon Musk: Starhopper Survived Massive Fireball, Will Fly Again Soon]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()