If you measure the power of a machine in horsepower then it is still the most powerful machine ever built.
The
Saturn V rocket's first stage carries 203,400 gallons (770,000 liters) of kerosene fuel and 318,000 gallons (1.2 million liters) of liquid oxygen needed for combustion. At liftoff, the stage's
five F-1 rocket engines ignite and
produce 7.5 million pounds of thrust. That is equivalent to 160,000,000
horsepower.
However it will lose that title soon.
Powered by 5
Rocketdyne F-1 engines producing 7,890,000 lbs of thrust, the
Saturn V[1]rocket was the most powerful rocket ever built and launched as of 2017.
However, Boeing and
Orbital ATK's new
SLS rocket[2]that is currently under construction and slated for
launch in 2019 (however likely to be delayed until 2020), will surpass Saturn V as the most powerful rocket ever built. The First Core-Stage will be powered by 4 RS-25D/E engines producing a combined 1,670,000 lbs of thrust. Additionally, SLS will be equipped with two boosters producing a combined 7,200,000 lbs of thrust. In total, the SLS Block 1 rocket will produce
more than 8,870,000 lbs of thrust at lift off.
Originally, the rocket that would eventually become the SLS was called
“Ares V”.[3]This design was even more powerful, with the first core-stage being powered by 5 RS-68B Engines producing around 3,500,000 lbs of thrust combined. With the addition of the two 5-stage solid rocket boosters, which would produce around 7,200,000 lbs of thrust,
Ares V would lift off producing a total
10,700,000 lbs of thrust. A version for heavier payloads would have a 6 RS-68B engines powering the first core-stage instead of 5, producing a grand total of 11,400,000 lbs of thrust at lift off.
SpaceX's Interplanetary Launch Vehicle
[4] Booster, with a planned launch date somewhere between 2022 and 2024, will be powered by 31 Raptor engines and produce over
11,800,000 lbf of thrust, with the ability to significantly increase thrust throughout the vehicles design life. This, obviously, will be by far the most powerful rocket ever built.
William