About This Project

Aerospike engines are one of the most unique and underutilized rocket engines in the aerospace industry, with their unique geometry, and ever more unique efficiency boost, it's quite strange how little use they see in the industry. By building both a solid and liquid test engine, my team and I aim to document the process of building an aerospike, we will then publish our findings of the top challenges we faced, so others prospecting to build an aerospike will know the challenges going in.

Ask the Scientists

What is the context of this research?

I've been working on building rocket engines for the last two years. After spending some time in the HPR community, I realized that aerospikes had little to no representation in the hobby. I'm wondering how much more or less efficient aerospikes are in comparison to traditional engines, and why they are not researched in the aerospace industry, as they're the same amount efficient at sea level, as at altitude, something traditional rocket engines can do. I'm going to do this by making a demonstrator liquid aerospike, which will show myself and my collaborators the issues engineers face while developing an aerospike, but at a smaller scale. I hope to find resolutions for these problems.

What is the significance of this project?

This project will provide data to people who might be looking into using an aerospike for their launch vehicle, and show them how to remediate some of the problems they may encounter.

What are the goals of the project?

I would like to develop a solid aerospike and compare it against an HPR motor of the same size, using the same fuel. The only comparable difference being the type of nozzle, one being a traditional de laval nozzle, and one being a custom machined aerospike. After that, I would like to create a liquid aerospike to see what design challenges engineers face when deciding to use an aerospike or not, as aerospikes aren't widely used throughout industry.