SpaceX Falcon 9 First Stage Merlin Engine Specifications

SpaceX’s Falcon 9, the world’s first orbital class reusable two-stage rocket for transport of humans and cargo into Earth orbit and beyond deep space. Powered by nine Merlin engines using rocket grade kerosene (RP-1) and liquid oxygen as propellants held in aluminum-lithium alloy tanks, designed for recovery and reuse.

Burning fuel decreases the rocket’s mass and changes vehicle dynamics near the end of first-stage flight, therefore the engines are throttled down to limit acceleration.

The engines are used to re-orient and decelerate the first stage prior to re-entry and landing. The Falcon 9 first stage landing legs are placed symmetrically at the base, constructed from carbon-fiber and aluminium-honeycomb composite material, they deploy prior to landing.

First Stage Specifications 

Height – 70 m

Diameter – 3.7 m

Mass – 549,054 kg

Payload To Lower Earth Orbit – 22,800 kg

Payload To Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit – 8,300 kg

Payload To Mars – 4,020 kg

Number Of Engines – 9

Thrust At Sea Level – 7,607 kN

Thrust In Vacuum – 8,227 kN

Propellant – LOX / RP-1

Thrust – 845 kN