> Don't actually think you can iterate from Merlin to Raptor.
In some sense Earth science had practically do that - from Goddard's 1926 pressure-fed/piston pumps feed via von Braun's open loop of 1944, via Isayev-Melnikov staged combustion of 1949-1959 to Glushko's full-flow combustion of 1967.
Slow, and engines were designed from scratch. But still some iterations and evolution.
In some sense Earth science had practically do that - from Goddard's 1926 pressure-fed/piston pumps feed via von Braun's open loop of 1944, via Isayev-Melnikov staged combustion of 1949-1959 to Glushko's full-flow combustion of 1967.
Slow, and engines were designed from scratch. But still some iterations and evolution.
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