IISc-incubated startup hot-tests aerospike rocket engine

Bengaluru: Bengaluru-based startup SpaceFields has announced the successful hot-firing of its aerospike rocket engine.

The static-test campaign for the 168-mm rocket motor was conducted at SpaceFields’ propulsion test facility at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) campus in Challakere, in Chitradurga district. The successful testing of what the company called India’s first aerospike engine could complement efforts to increase the efficiency traditional bell-nozzle engines provide.

Apurwa Masook, CEO of the IISc-incubated startup, noted that aerospike nozzles are designed to be altitude-compensating – these enable the engines to have optimum efficiency across a range of pressure regimes, “a unique capability” that ensures a significant upgrade on the currently used bell nozzles. In effect, aerospike engines can reduce the staging and the amount of fuel to bring the same mass to orbit.

“At high altitudes, the aerospike nozzle is able to expand the engine exhaust to a larger effective nozzle area ratio and hence, can increase the thrust and specific impulse,” Masook said.

Aerospikes come with potential applications in single-stage to orbit (SSTO) rockets that use only one engine.

For the static-fire test, SpaceFields used an HTPB-based composite propellant. A maximum recorded pressure of 11 bar and a peak thrust of 2000N was achieved; a total impulse of 54485.9 N was generated.

The engine is built with Titanium grade 5 as the main metal. A Glass Fibre Reinforced Polymer-based ablative thermal insulation was used to protect the spike from the hot gases. The patent for the insulation system was recently granted, SpaceFields said.