This project is a potassium nitrate and hydrogen propellant based rocket engine that I am building. I decided to build this because I have great interest in rockets and space in general. I especially love the complexity of the engines. Another reason I want to build this is because I am a senior in high school. I want to be able to prove to anyone and everyone, especially when I have kids, that anyone can do anything if they put their mind to it. Beauty pageant business aside I would like to discuss the nature of the project.

What is most difficult about this project is that it is surprisingly expensive to get my hands on certain parts that would be preferable in terms of material science. For example, metals that would be better for withstanding higher temperatures like certain steels, tungsten, or graphite are a bit expensive for a teenager. However, I need certain parts to be made very precisely so I am unable to build them myself using scraps, or at least I would like to avoid that outcome.

Originally this project was designed to be a liquid oxygen (LOx) and liquid hydrogen based rocket engine, but due to complexity, time constraints, and limited funds the project slowly scaled down into something much more small. Instead of being a full sized engine the engine has been designed to be essentially just the nozzle and fuel injector and is under 10 inches in length. The engine is going to use a mixture of a solid propellant and gas propellant. The solid propellant, or in this case the oxidizer, is potassium nitrate mixed with sucrose (sugar), iron (III) oxide (rust powder), and possibly will involve mixing potassium nitrate with water before cooking the water out, but I haven't completed that experiment to find how efficient it is yet so we'll see. The gas propellant, or fuel, is going to be a canister of hydrogen gas.

The purpose of this project is not to necessarily develop a rocket engine that can launch anything into the air because I simply cannot afford the materials to do something like that. The purpose of this project really is to just have some fun because science is really cool and I would love nothing more than to have stories to tell even if this doesn't quite work out. Even if by some unlucky chance something explodes it would be a good story.