Subteam Information
The Liquid Propulsion team develops liquid-fueled rocket engines and their umbilicals to support various flight vehicles through design and simulation.
Propulsion Team Lead: Karson Quale/Derek Reister
General Propulsion
The Liquid Propulsion team develops liquid-fueled rocket engines and their umbilicals to support various flight vehicles. Design and simulation work is conducted within this team to create 3D models and flight simulation profiles for the club-built vehicles. We are using a mixture of liquid methane and liquid oxygen for our propellant. The end goal of the competition is to create a subscale and full-scale lander that can launch, hover 50 meters above the ground, and land safely using only engine thrust. This is achieved through a gimbal system controlled by the Vehicle Controls subteam.
Igniter
The Horus igniter is a gaseous tap-off Methane/Oxygen torch igniter that will be integrated into the injector plate of the Horus engine to ensure reliable engine ignition and relight when needed. The Igniter features an Ox-centered inlet with a Methane swirl injection pattern to promote adequate mixing in the combustor and to provide a fuel-rich outer layer for igniter cooling. This project is currently under development and will soon undergo hot-fire testing to evaluate the system's rigidity under various Ox and Fuel preloads. Through iteration, this system will be tuned for reliability and positioned in the Horus injector plate for ignition of the prop system.
Horus Engine
Horus is the club’s first liquid-fueled engine, being developed to support the club’s challenge efforts and to power the Primarch lander. Horus is a 1000-lbf-rated engine, operating at 300 psi chamber pressures at nominal thrust. The design is currently being optimized for additive manufacturing using a NASA-developed alloy, GRCop–42, formulated specifically for liquid rocket engine development. The engine features regenerative cooling channels along the combustion chamber, with a 30-degree helix, to wick heat from the combustion process and maintain stable engine temperatures.
Current Projects
The propulsion team's current focus is on designing the propulsion system to support both throttling and gimbaling, enabling full control of the flight vehicle, Primarch. Small tabs have been designed on the outer wall of the combustion chamber to enable the connection of linear actuators and precise directional control.
