If you want to see something awesome this afternoon, watch SpaceX’s live broadcast of an engine test today at 3:00 pm EDT/12:00 pm PDT/7:00 pm GMT. You’ll see nine Merlin rocket engines ...

Rather than utilizing the staged combustion cycle found in other rocket engines, the Merlin uses a gas generator cycle, with a pintle injector providing combustion stability. Ever Since the Merlin ...

the Merlin is what’s known as an “open cycle” rocket engine. In this classical design, which dates back to the German V-2 of WWII, the exhaust from what’s essentially a smaller and less ...

With the launch Friday and another Falcon 9 flight Monday (this one with a booster on its 15th mission), SpaceX has launched ...

That's why rockets have to carry tanks of both fuel and oxidizer. The SpaceX Falcon 9's Merlin engines use rocket-grade kerosene (RP-1) fuel with liquid oxygen as the oxidizer. NASA's Space Launch ...

The rocket typically needs to go 17,500 MPH horizontally ... During entry burn, Falcon 9 is decelerating by firing its Merlin engines, but we're still moving really fast. And if you look at ...