From: FJB | 6/26/2024 4:30:54 PM | | | | LEAP?71 hot-fires 3D-printed liquid-fuel rocket engine designed through Noyron Computational ModelJun 18, 2024
Dubai, June 18th, 2024 — for immediate release
LEAP?71, a Dubai-based AI engineering company, announced today the successful test firing of a liquid rocket engine created entirely through Noyron, the company’s Large Computational Engineering Model. The engine was designed autonomously without human intervention and then 3D-printed in copper. The rocket thruster was successfully hot-fired at a rocket test stand in the UK.
The engine with 5 kN (500 kg / 1124 lbf) of thrust, generated the expected 20,000 horsepower, and completed all tests, including a long duration burn.
Josefine Lissner, Aerospace engineer, and Managing Director of LEAP?71 said: “This is an important milestone for us, but also for the entire industry. We can now automatically create functional rocket thrusters and directly move to practical validation. From final specification to manufacturing, the design of this engine took less than 2 weeks. In traditional engineering, this would be a task of many months, or even years. Each new engine iteration takes only minutes. Innovation in space propulsion is hard, and costly. With our approach, we hope to make space more accessible for everyone.”
The generated engine uses cryogenic Liquid Oxygen (LOX) and Kerosene as propellants. The copper combustion chamber is regeneratively cooled and the injector head features state-of-art coaxial swirler to mix the propellants.
Lin Kayser, co-founder of LEAP?71 said: “Our company is at the forefront of the new field of Computational Engineering, where sophisticated machines can be designed without manual work. The paradigm significantly accelerates the pace of innovation for real-world objects. The fact that the Noyron thruster operated nominally on the first try, confirms that the approach is working. The method can be applied to any field of engineering.”
LEAP?71 worked with leading German metal 3D printing company AMCM on the production of the thruster. It was then post-processed at the University of Sheffield and prepared for the test. The hot fire was performed at Airborne Engineering, Ltd. in Wescott, UK.
LEAP?71 will use the data from the test to further advance Noyron. The company is working with leading aerospace companies in the US, Europe and Asia on the commercialization of the the resulting rocket engines.
About LEAP?71 LEAP?71 is a company based in Dubai, UAE, founded by aerospace engineer Josefine Lissner and serial entrepreneur Lin Kayser.
LEAP?71’s mission is to radically advance the progress in engineering through the new field of Computational Engineering. The company uses sophisticated software algorithms to build physical products. LEAP?71 has developed the Large Computational Engineering Model Noyron, which is considered the most advanced model available.
LEAP?71 works with customers all over the world, including the US, Korea, Europe, and China to design products in fields ranging from aerospace and electric mobility, to heat exchangers.
LEAP?71 has open-sourced a significant part of the technology stack, including PicoGK (“peacock”), a compact and robust geometry kernel, that enables the creation of very complex physical objects.
Most of LEAP?71’s parts are 3D printed on advanced industrial Additive Manufacturing machines.
LEAP?71 June 2024 hot fire backgrounder Achievements - First rocket engine built entirely through a computational model without human intervention
- Likely the shortest time from spec to manufacturing for a new rocket engine (2 weeks, usually this process takes many months in manual engineering using CAD)
- First liquid fueled rocket engine developed in the United Arab Emirates
- Engine worked on the first attempt
- No CAD was used in the design
Rocket thruster project The development of the Noyron TKL-5 rocket thruster, which was successfully hot fired in June 2024, is an internal LEAP?71 project to showcase the capabilities of the Noyron Large Computational Engineering Model.
The design phase of the thruster took less than 2 weeks from final specification to send-off to manufacturing. The generation of new design variations takes less than 15 minutes on a regular computer. The thruster geometry was printed at AMCM, a leading metal 3D printing company in Germany.
LEAP?71 partnered with the University of Sheffield, UK, and Airborne Engineering, a UK test site provider, for the hot fire campaign. The University of Sheffield’s UK Race to Space team provided a wealth of practical feedback, and completed all the post-machining steps and instrumentation required to move the thruster to the test stand. Technical advisor Sam Rogers, Chief Design Officer at Gravity Industries, provided important guidance throughout the project.
The rocket engine LEAP?71 chose a thrust level of 5kN (equivalent to 500 kg / 1120 lbs lift mass or 20,000 horsepower). This is a relatively compact engine, which would be suitable for a final kick stage of an orbital rocket.
The thruster runs on cryogenic Liquid Oxygen (LOX) and Kerosene, a combination that is used by many advanced rocket systems, including the SpaceX Falcon 9 and the venerable Saturn V moon rocket. LEAP?71 intentionally made that selection despite the propellants being more challenging to operate than others commonly used for small engines.
The engine was printed from copper (CuCrZr) using an EOS M290 metal printer. Copper has a low melting point, but enables compact high-performance engines, when actively cooled. If cooling failed, it would melt immediately.
The engine uses thin cooling channels that swirl around the chamber jacket, with a variable cross sections as thin as 0.8mm. The Kerosene is pressed through the channels to cool the engine and prevent it from melting. Both propellants are then injected into the combustion chamber. The combustion temperature inside the engine is around 3000ºC, whereas the engine surface stays below 250ºC, because of the active cooling.
The propellants are injected into the engine using a coaxial swirl injector head. This injector type is considered the most advanced.
Additional film cooling is provided by directing a portion of the fuel through tiny holes near the wall of the combustion chamber.
A multitude of measurement ports for temperature and pressure data enable information to flow back into the Noyron computational model.
The test The hot fire was conducted in Wescott, UK, at the test site of Airborne Engineering on Friday, June 14, 2024. The engine was hot fired for an initial 3.5 seconds using an oxidizer to fuel ratio of 1.8, which is lower than the nominal 2.3. By using less oxidizer, the engine burns slightly less hot. After confirming that the engine performed well and all temperatures were in the expected range, the engine was tested for a full 12 second long-duration burn at a nominal oxidizer-to-fuel ratio of 2.3.
The engine performed as expected. It achieved steady-state, which means it can essentially be operated as long as needed. The burn time was only limited by the fuel supply at the test site.
Post analysis The engine was disassembled at the University of Sheffield the next day, and careful inspection confirmed that it remained fully intact. The thruster will stay in the UK for future tests. Initial analysis of the data show that the pressure drop (the resistance) of the cooling channels was higher than modeled, which is due to the actual surface roughness of the 3D print. The team will post-smooth the existing engine while Noyron’s cooling channel logic has already been updated to improve predictions and the design for future engines.
Latest News |
| Space and Space Exploration | Pastime Discussion ForumsShare | RecommendKeepReplyMark as Last ReadRead Replies (1) |
|
To: FJB who wrote (3009) | 6/27/2024 12:02:46 AM | From: FJB | | | SpaceX is building a NASA craft to intentionally destroy the International Space Station after retiring
Michael Sheetz
A satellite image shows an overview of the International Space Station with the Boeing Starliner spacecraft, June 7, 2024.
Maxar Technologies | Via Reuters
NASA will have a spacecraft from Elon Musk’s SpaceX guide the International Space Station’s destruction later this decade, the agency announced Wednesday.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration awarded an $843 million contract to SpaceX to build the so-called “U.S. Deorbit Vehicle.” The spacecraft will be designed to guide the football-field-sized research laboratory back into the Earth’s atmosphere after retiring in 2030.
The SpaceX-built vehicle will effectively destroy the ISS by pushing the station into reentry from orbit.
“It is crucial to prepare for the safe and responsible deorbit of the International Space Station in a controlled manner,” NASA said in a press release, with the U.S. Deorbit Vehicle needed to “ensure avoidance of risk to populated areas.”
SpaceX’s Dragon crew capsule “Endeavour” seen from the International Space Station on May 2, 2024.
NASA
NASA did not specify whether SpaceX’s design for the U.S. Deorbit Vehicle will be based on one of the company’s existing spacecraft, such as its Dragon capsules. SpaceX and NASA did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment on the design.
The U.S. – along with four international partner agencies representing Russia, Europe, Canada, and Japan – has been preparing for the eventual end of the ISS, which has been crewed since 2000. The ISS, primarily created as a crewed research laboratory, has seen more than 3,300 experiments conducted in microgravity. That includes research not possible on Earth such as medical sciences and technology demonstrations.
Aging ISS But the ISS is aging, with NASA and its lead partner Roscosmos, unable to solve a worsening problem of microscopic leaks on the station.
NASA published a study on Wednesday with analysis of why it decided to intentionally destroy the ISS in a controlled reentry. The agency evaluated a variety of alternatives, including disassembling the station in orbit or trying to raise the ISS to a higher orbit with a large spacecraft like SpaceX’s Starship.
“The space station is a unique artifact whose historical value cannot be overstated. NASA considered this when determining if any part of the station could be salvaged for historical preservation or technical analysis,” the agency wrote.
Ultimately, the agency study determined that any attempts to preserve or reuse the ISS were technically or economically infeasible. NASA noted the possibility the ISS’ operational lifetime could be extended beyond 2030, but that is yet to be determined and requires agreement with its international partner agencies.
NASA is planning to replace the ISS through private space stations and is helping fund U.S. companies’ development through the Commercial LEO Destinations (CLD) program.
The ISS totaled about $150 billion to develop and build and costs NASA about $4 billion each year to operate, so the agency sees privately built space stations as a way to replace the ISS at a fraction of the cost.
|
| Space and Space Exploration | Pastime Discussion ForumsShare | RecommendKeepReplyMark as Last Read |
|
| |