SNC's ORBITEC family of Vortex engines

[Chris Bergin]

Presser:

ORBITEC Expands Vortex Rocket Engine Family with Successful Demonstration of New Propellants

MADISON, Wis. (Nov. 10, 2015) – Sierra Nevada Corporation’s (SNC) wholly-owned subsidiary Orbital Technologies Corporation (ORBITEC) recently completed successful testing and demonstration of three different propellant combinations for its existing 30,000-pound thrust vortex rocket engine. Completing this advancement in less than a year, ORBITEC is rapidly progressing its offering of engines for orbital maneuvering, upper-stage engines that ignite at high altitude, and small-to-medium-scale air and ground launch stage engines.

“We are extremely optimistic about the performance and broad application of the vortex engine which, during tests, exhibited very smooth and stable combustion and Specific Impulse efficiencies,” said Tom Crabb, ORBITEC’s executive vice president and chief operating officer. “With ORBITEC’s natural ability to rapidly iterate design and testing, these performance results should quickly lead to refinement and qualification of engines for next generation launch systems and to continued scaling for larger engines.”

These tests demonstrate the ability to transition use of different propellant combinations in the same core rocket engine design with slight changes to accommodate a specific combination of fuel and oxidizer, including propane and kerosene fuels with nitrous oxide (laughing gas) and liquid oxygen oxidizers. This latest development offers customers a suite of engines scalable to higher thrust levels and customer-selected fuel combinations from a single core rocket engine design. ORBITEC’s patented vortex rocket engines utilize a unique swirling propellant flow to naturally cool the engine walls, allowing for the development and manufacture of simpler, low-cost, light-weight and more robust rocket engine systems.

“SNC is very pleased that ORBITEC has exceeded expected performance and efficiency targets for this rocket engine,” said Mark N. Sirangelo, corporate vice president of SNC’s Space Systems. “ORBITEC is going to apply their patented vortex engine technology to develop a new family of rocket engines that will serve as booster and upper-stage engines for a variety of customers such as the U.S. Air Force, NASA and other commercial space companies.”

ORBITEC, with support from SNC, is investing in all aspects of the rocket engines including valves, turbomachinery and other engine components. Future work on this ORBITEC program will include developing vortex engines to produce 65,000 pounds of thrust, combusting liquid oxygen and hydrogen, and liquid oxygen and methane, and to produce 75,000 pounds of thrust using liquid oxygen and kerosene, another step toward manufacturing larger U.S. engines that break current paradigms in low-cost access to space.

About Orbital Technologies Corporation (ORBITEC)
ORBITEC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sierra Nevada Corporation, is a leading high technology aerospace company based in Madison, Wisconsin. ORBITEC offers commercially mature solutions and strong capabilities in: Propulsion, Propellant, Power Systems, Life Support and Environment Control, Bio-based products and Production Systems and Next Generation Fire Suppression. The company has converted research and development initiatives into valuable products that provide significant cost advantages, superior functionality and high reliability. ORBITEC was acquired by Sierra Nevada Corporation in 2014. For more information visit www.orbitec.com

[TrevorMonty]

At 30kbls maybe there is another option for RL10 replacement.

[Katana]

Ideal companion with XCOR's pump

At 30kbls maybe there is another option for RL10 replacement.

[hkultala]

At 30kbls maybe there is another option for RL10 replacement.

Not with kerosine or propane. Way too low isp.

[Rocket Science]

Great news! This should have been the way to go for Dream Chaser from the beginning and the use of separate solid abort motors as envisioned for the HL-20.

[Katana]

At 30kbls maybe there is another option for RL10 replacement.

Not with kerosine or propane. Way too low isp.

Hydrogen has been demonstrated maybe 10years ago, with impressive plexiglas chamber.

Welcome back ORBITEC!

[TrevorMonty]

At 30kbls maybe there is another option for RL10 replacement.

Not with kerosine or propane. Way too low isp.

Hydrogen has been demonstrated maybe 10years ago, with impressive plexiglas chamber.

Welcome back ORBITEC!

Read article again, LH, RP1 and Methane are being targeted for 60-75klb engine in development.

The 30klb (RL10 class) tested with propane and RP1, not ideal upper stage fuels, but would be OK for a LAS engine for Dream Chaser.

[baldusi]

Isn't RP-1/N2O2 combination lightly hypergolic? Easy ignition is a must for a LAS. And it's also easily adapted to pressure-fed and pump-fed. The RP-1/LOX is clearly considered for LV applications. A cheap, light and reliable 120kN RP-1/LOX engine. The Gamma engines had an impeccable track record.

[Katana]

Not hypergolic, require hypergolic additive(hydrazine) or third hypergolic starting fuel (amine), hard to burn and sometimes unstable.

Isn't RP-1/N2O2 combination lightly hypergolic? Easy ignition is a must for a LAS. And it's also easily adapted to pressure-fed and pump-fed. The RP-1/LOX is clearly considered for LV applications. A cheap, light and reliable 120kN RP-1/LOX engine. The Gamma engines had an impeccable track record.

[TrevorMonty]

Before SNC bought Orbitec they had plans back in 2010 for launch vehicles using these engines in a aerospike engine.
See pages 11-21. The Lunar base concept is also of interest but best discussed on Moon thread.

http://www.orbitec.com/steckler_study/WSGC_Steckler_FINAL.pdf

[Elmar Moelzer]

What are the Isp numbers for these engines? What is the T/W ratio?
These things would add great context to the thrust numbers, which by themselves don't say much, IMHO.

[Lars-J]

So does this mean that SNC has finally given up on hybrid engines? Or is this a parallel product line?

[jongoff]

So does this mean that SNC has finally given up on hybrid engines? Or is this a parallel product line?

One of my friends who helped me get Altius off the ground went to work hybrids for SNC down in Poway a few years back, and he and a bunch of the others were laid off shortly after the Orbitec purchase announcement. I don't know if SNC is still doing hybrids at all with VG/Scaled, but I think their main focus for DC shifted to liquid propulsion a while back.

~Jon

[yg1968]

So does this mean that SNC has finally given up on hybrid engines? Or is this a parallel product line?

One of my friends who helped me get Altius off the ground went to work hybrids for SNC down in Poway a few years back, and he and a bunch of the others were laid off shortly after the Orbitec purchase announcement. I don't know if SNC is still doing hybrids at all with VG/Scaled, but I think their main focus for DC shifted to liquid propulsion a while back.

~Jon

When the SS2 accident happened, SNC indicated that it no longer had any involvement with SS2. 

[baldusi]

Not hypergolic, require hypergolic additive(hydrazine) or third hypergolic starting fuel (amine), hard to burn and sometimes unstable.

Isn't RP-1/N2O2 combination lightly hypergolic? Easy ignition is a must for a LAS. And it's also easily adapted to pressure-fed and pump-fed. The RP-1/LOX is clearly considered for LV applications. A cheap, light and reliable 120kN RP-1/LOX engine. The Gamma engines had an impeccable track record.

Now I remember, the gamma improved on the trick of decomposing the H2O2 by decomposing the whole amount of oxidizer. This way the basically did passive "preburner" and the engine worked just like a staged combustion engine, without the difficulties of an oxidizer rich preburner. In that case, the decomposed oxidizer was hot enough that it spontaneously combusted. I know it is quite a trick, and these were probably pressure fed engines, but it clearly is an opportunity.

[notsorandom]

Not hypergolic, require hypergolic additive(hydrazine) or third hypergolic starting fuel (amine), hard to burn and sometimes unstable.

Isn't RP-1/N2O2 combination lightly hypergolic? Easy ignition is a must for a LAS. And it's also easily adapted to pressure-fed and pump-fed. The RP-1/LOX is clearly considered for LV applications. A cheap, light and reliable 120kN RP-1/LOX engine. The Gamma engines had an impeccable track record.

Now I remember, the gamma improved on the trick of decomposing the H2O2 by decomposing the whole amount of oxidizer. This way the basically did passive "preburner" and the engine worked just like a staged combustion engine, without the difficulties of an oxidizer rich preburner. In that case, the decomposed oxidizer was hot enough that it spontaneously combusted. I know it is quite a trick, and these were probably pressure fed engines, but it clearly is an opportunity.

Not only those advantages but decomposed H2O2 ( H2O and O2) enter the combustion chamber as a gas thus better facilitating combustion and reducing instability. HTP offers some nice tricks that an engine designer can take advantage of. Too bad about its low ISP and safety issues.