Students test-fire new 3D-printed rocket engine

Students from the San Diego chapter of the University of California test-fire a new 3D-printed engine, making UC San Diego the very first university to “additively manufacture” a rocket engine. The engine was printed by GPI Prototype and Manufacturing Services with help from the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center. The engine’s fabrication, from conception to its final test on October 5th, took around 8 months to complete. Already a recipient of the Student Prize award for DIYRockets, Inc’s competition, the engine’s hot-fire test was highly successful and no doubt means exciting new possibilities in the industry’s future.

The UC San Diego students ran their design through a full test of its capabilities after setting up a hot fire mount system. Their engine, named Tri-D, is designed to power the third state of a miniaturized satellite, or NanoSat launcher. Tri-D is fueled by both kerosene and liquid oxygen, capable of 200lbs of thrust. The hot-fire test revealed mach diamonds emitting from the engine, a phenomenon indicating a supersonic gas flow through Tri-D’s nozzle.

Tri-D 3D printed rocket engine

This engine opens vast possibilities for the future of rocket engine design, especially when compared to the more traditional ways of fabricating an engine. 3D printing cuts development costs astronomically: the engine’s total manufacturing cost was only $6,800. Tri-D was printed, designed, and tested by members of UCSD’s Students for the Exploration and Development of Space, representing the Jacobs School of Engineering. The rocket’s hot fire test, shown here, was conducted at the Friends of Amateur Rocketry launch site in the Mojave Desert.

Financed by NASA, the designers of Tri-D worked closely with the Marshall Space Flight Center during their research into additively manufactured or 3D-printed rocket engines. With NASA’s help, the students designed Tri-D using the greatest features of 3D technology and have no doubt revolutionized the whole of the aerospace industry.  

Source Space.com, 3ders.org