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Scenes from testing Pangea Aerospace\u2019s Arcos aerospike rocket engine at the German Aerospace Center, DLR, test centre in Lampoldshausen Germany in October 2023. \u00a0<\/p>\n
Aerospike engines don\u2019t have bell-shaped nozzles like most rocket engines in operation but have spike-shaped nozzles. This allows the engine to be more efficient at different altitudes, offering theoretical benefits of up to 15% more efficiency. Aerospike engines have stayed theoretical for decades and a few were built in the 1980\u2019s but new 3D-printing techniques have made them more economically viable.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The tests in this video were part of verifying Arcos\u2019 combustion chambers that are made of two different additively manufactured materials bonded together \u2013 a first in Europe \u2013 as well as validating two types of 3D-printed injector heads developed through aid and funding from ESA and the Spanish Center of Technological Development and Innovation.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Arcos runs on liquid methane and liquid oxygen \u2013 often abbreviated to methalox \u2013 that is cooled down to around \u2013170\u00b0C before being mixed and burnt in the engine, where the mixture then heats up to temperatures above 3000\u00b0C. To prevent the engine from melting, Pangea Aerospace\u2019s design runs both the cryogenic oxygen and methane fluids around the engine to cool it.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Arcos engine is being designed to be adaptable to multiple uses and for different customers, it runs on bio-methane and should be reusable up to ten times in addition to reducing environmental impact by up to 50% compared to traditional rocket engines \u2013 all while using 15% less propellant.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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