German firm's 250-ton Typhoon rocket combustion engine tested

A German aerospace firm, The Exploration Company, has successfully completed a six-week test campaign of its Typhoon rocket engine’s oxygen-rich preburner at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) Lampoldshausen site. The Typhoon engine, designed to produce 250 tons of thrust using a full-flow staged combustion cycle, underwent 16 hot-fire tests across four configurations. Early challenges with low-frequency combustion instabilities were resolved, enabling stable combustion sequences lasting up to 85 seconds—an improvement over earlier tests. The preburner is critical as it powers the turbopumps that feed fuel and oxidizer into the combustion chamber at high pressure. The Typhoon engine’s thrust capacity is comparable to SpaceX’s Raptor family, which powers the Starship system and delivers roughly twice the thrust of the Falcon 9 engine. However, the Typhoon’s application remains unconfirmed, as it currently exceeds the power requirements of The Exploration Company’s in-space logistics projects. The company has partnered with an