Photo: Business Insider
The biggest challenge a rocket is facing when taking off from Earth is defeating gravity. This requires a lot of thrust, which comes from burning a lot of fuel from a very big fuel tank, which can be very expensive and dangerous.
Despite all that, the space race is booming, with more entities involved in space exploration now that never before. But what if the fuel problem no longer existed? Would we go further, faster?
Two European organizations are working on developing a rocket engine that might revolutionize space exploration. None of the them comes from countries that are usually linked to this type of enterprise. The two are the University of Glasgow, Scotland and the Oles Honchar Dnipro National University in Ukraine.
For the task at hand, a mixed team of engineers decided to replace a rocket’s fuel tank with a rod made of a solid plastic fuel on the outside and an oxidizer on the inside.
When the rocket is in operation, this rod is pushed into the combustion chamber, igniting and generating thrust. The speed at which the rod is inserted into the chamber can be modified, to allow for more or less thrust to be delivered, as needed.
Officially, the new concept is called autophage engine, from the Greek word used to designate the natural mechanism of the cell that disassembles unnecessary components.
The workings of the engine concept were published by the team in the Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets. The theory is simple: why not mount the payload to be delivered in space on top of the propellant rod itself?
That would allow for the rocket to basically burn itself for fuel. What’s more important is that the rockets themselves could be sized depending on the cargo they are supposed to be launching into space.
Work on what might turn out to be a revolutionary concept is only just beginning, The team of engineers managed, for now, to have the rocket burning for 60 seconds in lab tests.
“While we’re still at an early stage of development, we have an effective engine testbed in the laboratory in Dnipro, and we are working with our colleagues there to improve it still further,” said Patrick Harkness, leader of the Glasgow team.
“The next step is to secure further funding to investigate how the engine could be incorporated into a launch vehicle.”
Two European organizations are working on developing a rocket engine that might revolutionize space exploration. None of the them comes from countries that are usually linked to this type of enterprise. The two are the University of Glasgow, Scotland and the Oles Honchar Dnipro National University in Ukraine.
For the task at hand, a mixed team of engineers decided to replace a rocket’s fuel tank with a rod made of a solid plastic fuel on the outside and an oxidizer on the inside.
When the rocket is in operation, this rod is pushed into the combustion chamber, igniting and generating thrust. The speed at which the rod is inserted into the chamber can be modified, to allow for more or less thrust to be delivered, as needed.
Officially, the new concept is called autophage engine, from the Greek word used to designate the natural mechanism of the cell that disassembles unnecessary components.
The workings of the engine concept were published by the team in the Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets. The theory is simple: why not mount the payload to be delivered in space on top of the propellant rod itself?
That would allow for the rocket to basically burn itself for fuel. What’s more important is that the rockets themselves could be sized depending on the cargo they are supposed to be launching into space.
Work on what might turn out to be a revolutionary concept is only just beginning, The team of engineers managed, for now, to have the rocket burning for 60 seconds in lab tests.
“While we’re still at an early stage of development, we have an effective engine testbed in the laboratory in Dnipro, and we are working with our colleagues there to improve it still further,” said Patrick Harkness, leader of the Glasgow team.
“The next step is to secure further funding to investigate how the engine could be incorporated into a launch vehicle.”
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