AURORA LIQUID ENGINE

The Project

Aurora Liquid Engine is a graduation project led by nine aerospace students from ESTACA (french engineering school specialized in transportation). Passionate about rockets, we decided to work on an ambitious and innovative project, the realization of a 3D printed liquid rocket engine.

The goal is to developp a liquid engine and his static fire test bed. We follows every steps of a rocket engine industrial development: preliminary studies, sizing, machining and tests. The projet is a way for us to have a unique experience to design a complex space system. It will also allow us to increase our technical skills. Many engineering fields will be used such as fluid mechanics, CFD, CAD, FEM, thermal aspect or materials. On the experimental side, Aurora will bring us an opportunity to carry out tests on innovative solution in space propulsion: 3D metal printing, new injection system, optimisation of a regenerative cooling system. The outcome of the project will be the fire static test on the test stand. During the test we will collect data about pressure, temperature and thrust. This data will be analysed and compare with analytic results to evaluate our modelisations and calculation methods.

Promotion video

The Engine

The main objectif is to realize a liquid rocket engine with a regenerative cooling system and a thrust between 110 and 225 lbf.

We aim to explore unconventional manufacturing techniques such as 3D metal printing to evaluate them. The freedom of creation of these techniques will allow us to explore different technical solutions compared to those used on traditional engines. Innovation will be at the heart of our project.

Preliminary design
Assembly 1
Assembly 2
Injection plate

The static fire test stand

Our test stand will have several main fonctions:

  • Power the engine with liquid oxygen and kerosen.
  • Hold it in position.
  • Recover the thrust and measure it.
  • Acquire pressure and temperature data.

Test stand diagram - V1
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