August 24, 2021.

August 30, 2021.

August 29, 2021.

SpaceX’s engine testing facility on 4,300 acres of land in McGregor, Texas, just south of the city of Waco, is undergoing new development and testing related to the Raptor engine for Starship and Super Heavy

With five test bays, the facility will soon become a hub for Raptor 2 engine assembly, with a new factory now under construction

This is taking place as Merlin engine and stage testing related to upcoming Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy flights continues

Beal Aerospace started using McGregor for testing its BA-810 engine, at the time the largest liquid engine tested since Apollo

The facility expanded over the years, getting a large test stand known as the “Tripod” for Falcon 9 first stage test firings as well as other testing infrastructure such as a stand to test second stages

The Grasshopper rocket was a prototype based on the Falcon 9 first stage with a single Merlin engine and fixed landing gear to test hovering and vertical landing, as part of Elon Musk’s effort to make the Falcon 9 fully and rapidly reusable

Reusability testing was shifted to maneuvers during Falcon 9 launches from Florida or California after stage separation, while Falcon 9 first stages continued to be ground tested at McGregor before being shipped to the launch site

Around this time, Elon Musk and SpaceX announced what was initially known as the BFR (Big Falcon Rocket), as well as a new methane and liquid oxygen-fueled engine known as Raptor

Since September 2016, the Raptor engine to be used on the Starship spacecraft and Super Heavy booster has undergone test firings at McGregor

However, Elon Musk has recently announced that a new production plant will be built near the McGregor engine testing facility

This plant will specifically produce Raptor 2 engines optimized for firing at sea level, most of which will be used on Super Heavy boosters

The Raptor 2 is a future version of the engine soon to enter testing, and the factory will be capable of making 2 to 4 of these engines per day

The McGregor facility also now has a new test stand for Raptors that will allow up to one test firing per day, possibly up to two per day, of the sea-level engines, the same type of engine used on the Super Heavy booster as well as the center engines on the Starship

Aerial view of the new vertical Raptor test stand – via Gary Blair for NSF/L2

The three test stands and five engine bays for Raptor support an increased pace of engine testing, which will be needed for Super Heavy operations, as that booster will use up to 33 sea-level engines

While engine testing has continued apace, the new sea-level Raptor assembly plant has started foundation work, with groundbreaking taking place and work on the superstructure expected to be finished by the end of the year

The RCS stand is in addition to Raptor and Merlin test stands, test stands for Falcon 9 cores, Falcon Heavy cores, side boosters, and second stages for the Falcon 9/Falcon Heavy

The test stands used for Falcon 9/Falcon Heavy core stages and their associated Merlin engines are still going strong, used for continuing tests on individual Merlin units as well as cores and side boosters

These include the ones that will be used for the Viasat-3 Falcon Heavy launch next year, which have been seen at McGregor recently

Every Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy stage, including second stages, still goes through McGregor for testing before reaching the launch pads in Florida or California

B1068, the Falcon Heavy center core for the Viasat-3 mission, on the test stand at McGregor

The continued testing at McGregor will support the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy manifests as long as the vehicles fly – which is expected to be the rest of the decade, if not longer