First successful test run of our Rocket Engine

On July 4th 2008 was our Rocket Engine ready for its first test after a long time of discussions, calculations and consctruction. The test took place on the area of the Institute of Aerodynamics and Gasdynamic of the University of Stuttgart.

Despite the location of our test site extensive barriers were needed. To achieve the needed energy for ignition a commercial black powder rocket motor was used. Together with an electrical igniter this assures a very safe and reliable ignition which you can see in the videos. The electrical igniter is fired and heats up the fuel grain, one second later both valves of the oxidizer supply are opened and the engine ignites immediately. During the 10 seconds of burn time we achieved a constant and steady thrust, a little lower than expected due to our calculations. A first analysis showed that the oxidizer mass flow was not high enough due to very high pressure losses in the redundant valves. So the combustion inside the thrust chamber was very fuel rich which you can see clearly at the post combustion behind the engine.

Furter work consists now in the optimization of the oxidizer supply to achieve a more complete combustion. Additionally sensors in the fuel grain will be added to characterize the regressionrate of the fuel. We also plan to make the engine lighter and build a version that is abled to fly on self build rocket to get real time data during a flight.