A forest of small Rocket engines: Twelve Orbiter combustion chambers off the @VELO3DMetal printer and ready for EDM wire. Testing soon in Mojave. #rapiditeration #3dprinting
E-2 - Making steady progress in developing world’s highest performance liquid 🚀 engine of its class. Goal: lox/rp1, thrust 22k lbf (10tf), mix ratio 2.62, 1400 psi (100 bar) pressure, closed cycle, no throat film cooling, lox cooled, 3D printed. 365s ISP with vac nozzle
🚀🚀🚀 Today’s E-2 test fire at @NASAStennis reaching 8.6 metric ton of thrust (goal 10) at 2.4 o/f ratio (goal 2.62) and 90 bar of pressure (goal 100 bar). Very close to reaching and maybe exceeding our nominal goals in the next test series. #loxcooled #3dprinted
With an incredible team, partners, and a few design iterations - perseverance and focus won once again. We are steps away from demonstrating the world's highest performance combustion chamber of its class - thanks to LOX cooling. And lowest cost thanks to 3D printing.
Launcher E-2 liquid 🚀 engine in position for more testing this week at @NASAStennis. Goal : attempts at reaching nominal highest performance o/f mixture ratio (2.62), pressure (100 bar) and thrust (10tf).
Launcher E-2 3D printed 🚀 engine photos by @johnkrausphotos from today’s performance boost testing. Efficiency increase in action to the point the plume is transparent. We continue to push today with 2-3 more tests at higher mixture ratio.
Launcher wins Space Force contract to support engine developmentby Jeff Foust — May 25, 2022HAWTHORNE, Calif. — Launcher won a $1.7 million contract from the U.S. Space Force that will assist the company’s development of a high-performance rocket engine for its small launch vehicle.
MILESTONE: Orbiter SN1 is ready for vibration testing. This is our first ever spacecraft – designed, manufactured, and integrated at Launcher HQ.
Today, we successfully performed the Orbiter SN1 post vibration testing separation system test ✅
We then confirmed that Orbiter’s satellite bus powered on successfully after separation ✅🛰🚀
Our Launcher E-2 closed cycle 🚀 engine turbopump is ready for testing for the @SpaceForceDoD. 3D printed, 1.4 megawatt of power, 30,000 rpm, one turbine, one lox pump, two kerosene pumps, 320 bar of output pressure in this single shaft small package.
Our Launcher E-2 closed cycle 🚀 engine turbopump is integrated for testing this week at NASA Stennis (for the U.S. Space Force). 3D printed, 1.4 megawatt of power, 30k rpm, one turbine, one lox pump, two kerosene pumps, 320 bar output pressure in a single shaft package.
Launcher awarded U.S. Space Force SpaceWERX Orbital Prime ContractHawthorne, CaliforniaSeptember 30, 2022Launcher has been awarded a Phase 1 STTR under the SpaceWERX Orbital Prime ProgramHAWTHORNE, CA, September 30, 2022 – Launcher, together with their partners at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, announces it has been selected by SpaceWERX for a STTR Phase I in the amount of $249k to investigate how it’s orbit transfer vehicle, Orbiter, might enable In-space Service Assembly and Manufacturing (ISAM) capabilities being explored by the Department of the Air Force (DAF) and United States Space Force (USSF) through the Orbital Prime program. Orbital Prime was created to accelerate the commercial ISAM market toward a use case of Active Debris Remediation. The Air Force Research Laboratory and SpaceWERX have partnered to streamline the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) process by accelerating the small business experience through a faster proposal to award timelines, changing the pool of potential applicants by expanding opportunities to small business and losing bureaucratic overhead by continually implementing process improvement changes in contract execution. The DAF began offering 'The Open Topic' SBIR/STTR program in 2018 which expanded the range of innovations the DAF funded and now on contract as of 1 September 2022, Launcher will start its journey to create and provide innovative capabilities that will strengthen the national defense of the United States of America.
Illustration: Orbiter performing an engine burn while holding the target satellite debris to lower its orbit.
Illustration: Orbiter equipped with robotic arm and sensors enabling it to perform In-space Service Assembly and Manufacturing (ISAM) or Active Debris Remediation.
Illustration: Orbiter on final approach to the missions target satellite debris for Active Debris Remediation.
Launcher Successfully Tests E-2 Engine Turbopump for the U.S. Space ForceHawthorne, CaliforniaOctober 17, 2022In a test campaign at NASA Stennis Space Center, Launcher demonstrated the highest-performance kerosene rocket engine turbopump ever manufactured in the U.S.HAWTHORNE, CA, October 17, 2022 – In the latest test of its E-2 rocket engine for the U.S. Space Force, Launcher demonstrated the highest performance of a kerosene rocket engine turbopump ever manufactured in the United States. The milestone follows Launcher’s successful test-fire demonstrating the highest-performing liquid oxygen & kerosene rocket engine combustion chamber ever built in the United States.Launcher’s E-2 engine is a closed-cycle liquid rocket engine that will power its Light rocket to orbit with a single engine in its first stage. The successful E-2 turbopump tests took place in late September 2022 at NASA Stennis Space Center. The E-2 test team achieved or exceeded all power, input and output pressure, efficiency, and vibration goals over the course of 11 tests, including long duration, cavitation, and boosted flow.The pump assembly used Kerosene (RP-1) and liquid oxygen (LOX) as working fluids. The power for the turbine in this test campaign was high-pressure gaseous nitrogen.This test milestone was formally approved by the U.S. Space Force as part of Launcher’s Tactical Funding Increase (TACFI) contract.To achieve this high-performance milestone, the E-2 turbopump assembly has these specifications and innovations:High pressure: With 330 bar (4,786 psi) of liquid oxygen and fuel output pressure achieved enabling E-2’s high-pressure oxidizer-rich staged combustion engine cycle.Lightweight and compact: the single-shaft turbopump includes a turbine, two fuel pumps (RP-1) and a liquid oxygen pump (LOX).Streamlined turbine design: Novel design achieves industry leading 72% efficiency – surpassing the typical 60% efficiency found on other rocket engine turbopump turbines. High efficiency pumps: This allows E-2 to keep its engine pre-burner at low temperature (200C), thereby lowering the cost of materials and reducing the risk of oxygen flammability, a key challenge in developing oxidizer-rich staged combustion engines. It also provides margin to achieve designed engine thrust levels. Simplified: The turbopump design eliminates the need for a kicker turbine or liquid oxygen booster pump, despite a relatively low input pressure from the rocket propellant tanks.Additively manufactured at Launcher’s facility:Controls the cost and lead time of turbine, housings, rotating inducers, and impellers.Launcher’s E-2 engine performance specification is a critical component in its commitment to build the highest-performing liquid rocket engine of any small launch vehicle worldwide. Performance is key to expanding space access by reducing the propellant needed to reach orbital speed – thus increasing the potential payload mass and revenue-generating capacity of the launch vehicle.As part of the U.S. Space Force’s TACFI contract, Launcher’s next step in E-2 engine development will be pre-burner component testing beginning in November 2022, followed by a long-duration test of the integrated E-2 engine (thrust chamber and turbopump in a closed-cycle) in Q1 2023.“We would like to thank the U.S. Space Force and NASA for their support of innovation and for making Launcher’s latest high-performance records possible,” said Launcher CEO Max Haot. “By achieving our turbopump milestone, Launcher is one step closer to realizing its mission to expand space access.”Launcher is also grateful to our partners, including Velo3D, EOS, and NASA Stennis Space Center for their support and technology enabling the development of our E-2 liquid rocket engine.
Photo: Launcher E-2 Liquid Rocket Engine Turbopump Assembly
E-2 🚀 engine turbopump long duration test video at @NASAStennis ✅
I assume "powered by nitrogen" means that all that test did was see how hard the turbine could pump. It wasn't a test of whether the oxygen-kerosen mixture could power it well and constantly. Am I wrong? Input from those more knowledgeable than I would be appreciated.
E-2 🚀 ENGINE TURBOPUMP TEST VIDEO: Highest performance kerosene turbopump ever manufactured in the 🇺🇸. BLOG POST: launcherspace.com/updates/launch…
🚀 🔊 up - https://www.launcherspace.com/updates/launcher-awarded-u-s-space-force-tacfi-contract-to-develop-its-high-performance-e-2-liquid-rocket-engine
