‘Self-eating’ rocket could help UK take a big bite of space industry

New developments on a virtually century-old idea for a “self-eating” rocket engine able to flight past the Earth’s ambiance may assist the U.Okay. take an even bigger chew of the space {industry}.

College of Glasgow engineers have constructed and fired the primary unsupported autophage rocket engine which consumes components of its personal physique for gas. The design of the autophage engine—the title comes from the Latin phrase for “self-eating”—has a number of potential benefits over typical rocket designs.

The engine works by utilizing waste warmth from combustion to sequentially soften its personal plastic fuselage because it fires. The molten plastic is fed into the engine’s combustion chamber as extra gas to burn alongside its common liquid propellants.

Because of this an autophage car would require much less propellant in onboard tanks, and the mass freed up may very well be allotted to payload as a substitute. The consumption of the fuselage may additionally assist keep away from including to the issue of space particles—discarded waste that orbits the Earth and will hamper future missions.

Total, the larger effectivity may assist autophage rockets take a larger payload into space in comparison with a standard rocket of the identical mass. They might, for instance, take tiny “nanosatellites” into space instantly with out having to share space on costlier conventionally-fueled rockets.

The idea of a self-eating rocket engine was first proposed and patented in 1938. Nonetheless, no autophage engine designs had been fired in a managed method till a analysis partnership between the College of Glasgow and Dnipro Nationwide College in Ukraine achieved this milestone in 2018.

Now the Glasgow engineers have demonstrated that extra energetic liquid propellants can be utilized, and that the plastic fuselage can stand up to the forces required to feed it into the engine with out buckling. These are important steps in growing a viable flight idea.

The group’s paper, titled “Investigation of the Working Parameters and Efficiency of an Autophage, Hybrid Rocket Propulsion System,” was introduced on the AIAA SciTech Discussion board on Wednesday 10 January in Orlando, Florida.

Within the paper, the group describe how they efficiently test-fired their Ouroborous-3 autophage engine, producing 100 newtons of thrust in a collection of managed experiments. The check fires had been carried out on the MachLab facility at Machrihanish Airbase.

The Ouroborous-3 makes use of high-density polyethylene plastic tubing as its autophagic gas supply, burning it alongside the rocket’s essential propellants—a mixture of gaseous oxygen and liquid propane.

The exams confirmed that the Ourobourous-3 is able to steady burn—a key requirement for any rocket engine—all through the autophage stage, with the plastic fuselage supplying as much as one-fifth of the total propellant used.

The exams additionally confirmed that the rocket’s burn may very well be efficiently managed, with the group demonstrating its capability to be throttled, restarted and pulsed in an on/off sample. All of those talents may assist future autophage rockets management their ascent from the launchpad into orbit.

Professor Patrick Harkness, of the College of Glasgow’s James Watt College of Engineering, led the event of the Ourouboros-3 autophage engine. He mentioned, “These outcomes are a foundational step on the way in which to growing a fully-functional autophage rocket engine. These future rockets may have a variety of functions which might assist advance the U.Okay.’s ambitions to develop as a key participant within the space {industry}.

“A standard rocket’s construction makes up between 5% and 12% of its total mass. Our exams present that the Ouroborous-3 can burn a really comparable quantity of its personal structural mass as propellant. If we may make not less than a few of that mass out there for payload as a substitute, it will be a compelling prospect for future rocket designs.”

Postgraduate researcher Krzysztof Bzdyk, of the James Watt College of Engineering, is the paper’s corresponding writer. He mentioned, “Attending to this stage concerned overcoming a variety of technical challenges however we’re delighted by the efficiency of the Ourouboros-3 within the lab.

“From right here, we’ll start to have a look at how we will scale up autophage propulsion programs to help the extra thrust required to make the design perform as a rocket.”

The autophage engine is one among 23 space know-how tasks lately chosen to share in £4m from the U.Okay. Area Company and STFC. The Glasgow group acquired £290,000 to assist set up additional pilot testing of the prototype engine.

Dr. Paul Bate, CEO of the UK Area Company, mentioned, “One of many key methods we catalyze funding into the U.Okay.’s rising space sector is by backing improvements in rising areas of space know-how. The College of Glasgow’s spectacular work in the direction of an autophage engine is an instance of 1 which has nice potential to fulfill the rising international urge for food for developments within the effectivity and sustainability of rocket propulsion.”

Jack Tufft, a postgraduate researcher on the James Watt College of Engineering, is a co-author of the paper. He mentioned, “We’re actually excited by the potential of the Ouroboros-3, and this additional funding will assist us transfer ahead with exploring new developments and refinements to our design. Our intention is to convey the autophage engine nearer to a check launch, which is able to assist us develop our design for future generations of autophage rockets.”