Texas A&M University SRT Liquid Rocket Engine

The Sounding Rocketry Team (SRT) at Texas A&M University has for many years designed full hybrid rocket systems, including engines, fluid systems, airframe structures, and avionics.

Hyperion - A 750lbf HTPB-N2O Hybrid Rocket Engine that was designed, built, and tested in 2023 by SRT.

Video showing Lazarus, a previously made hyrbid rocket SRT designed, built, and launched.

This year the team is looking to expand into the world of amateur liquid-fueled rocket engine. The beginning of our liquid rocket engine journey starts with this engine - a small 500lbf testbed engine intended to demonstrate that SRT is capable of designing and safely operating liquid-fueled rocket engines. The goal of this engine is to develop Texas A&M University's first regeneratively cooled liquid rocket engine.

Functionally, this means that pure ethanol will flow from the bottom of the engine (at the angled inlet shown), which will then travel through internal cooling channels surrounding the combustion chamber, and will eventually enter into the combustion chamber where it will mix with nitrous oxide to combust and produce 500 pounds of thrust.

In addition to the complex regenerative cooling geometry, this engine has several other features that PCBway's 3d printing capabilities allows the design to do:

• Thrust Vector Control (TVC) mounts
• Internal fluid volutes
• Pressure transducer ports
• Mass-optimized structural components

And with PCBway's 316L Stainless Steel material option for 3D printing, this allows the engine to survive the high temperatures while still having excellent mechanical properties and corrosion resistance.