The testing continues at NextAero and the team have tuned the propellant pressurisation system to achieve stable combustion. The video below shows the tests being run through the bell nozzle and a basic rocket engine chamber.
These test engines are run on a mixture of cryogenic liquid oxygen and high purity ethanol. The engine is generating about 100kg of thrust. Ethanol is certainly not the most energy dense combustion fuel, but it is one of the most easily handled. This testing campaign is focused on developing experimental measurements of engine combustion performance and comparing these against internal models. Both the traditional bell shaped nozzle and the aerospike will be tested across a range of simulated altitudes. This will provide a one of a kind dataset for NextAero to use in future engine prototypes designed for flight. More to come…
