SpaceX rocket engines

Channels etched into the Merlin 1D nozzle enable regenerative cooling preventing exhaust heat from melting it.

Since the founding of SpaceX in 2002, the company has developed four families of rocket enginesMerlin, Kestrel, Draco and SuperDraco — and since 2016 developed the Raptor methane rocket engine and after 2020, a line of methalox thrusters.