Full-Flow

A full-flow staged combustion rocket engine, like SpaceX's Raptor, delivers higher thrust and efficiency compared to traditional staged combustion engines due to its unique design.

In a full-flow engine, both fuel and oxidizer are fully preburned in separate cycles, driving the turbopumps at lower temperatures and pressures.

This reduces stress on components and allows for higher chamber pressures, increasing thrust-to-weight ratios and efficiency.

Traditional engines, like the Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME), operate with partial flow, which limits their ability to achieve the same extreme pressures and thrust performance.

For example, the Raptor engine achieves over 200 metric tons of thrust, surpassing most traditional engines of similar size.