A Merlin 1C engine undergoing development test firing at the SpaceX test facility in McGregor Texas. The Merlin 1C engine will power the next Falcon 1 flight, scheduled for Q1 2008.

1 Aluminum-lithium alloy tanks fuel nine Merlin engines with liquid oxygen and rocket-grade kerosene propellant, generating more than 1.7 million pounds of thrust.

Merlin engines ignite on the first stage, setting it on a trajectory for the landing site. The second stage releases the satellite into a predetermined orbit.

SpaceX’s Merlin 1D rumbled for a full mission duration firing, while Orbital’s AJ-26 continued its testing ahead of its debut on their Antares launch vehicle.

In 1940, Ford Motor Co. initially committed to build 9,000 Merlin engines—6,000 for the British and 3,000 for the American armed forces—in mid-1940, over a year before the United States ...

The base of a newer Falcon 9 v1.1 launch vehicle, with a circular arrangement of Merlin 1D engines A source told Ars Technica the explosion occurred before the engine was fired and happened when ...