We are excited to announce that on the 14th March, we successfully hot fired our Sunfire III regeneratively cooled engine three times! The engine achieved the highest thrust out of any UK collegiate team with a thrust of 4.4kN.

Test 1: 3.6kN burn for 2 seconds
Test 2: 3.8kN burn for 5 seconds
Test 3: 4.4kN burn for 3 seconds

The AlSi10Mg engine was designed for 3.5kN and was pushed beyond its design point without any cooling issues. We’re looking forward to re-firing the engine later this year!

Many thanks to Aconity3D GmbH for their support and printing the engine in their AlSi10Mg performance alloy. The success of this engine demonstrates the capability of Aconity3D GmbH's printing for high performance applications.

Huge thank you to Airborne Engineering Ltd for the help with firing on the day providing their expertise and use of their test stand. We’re looking forward to firing more engines at airborne in the future.

#engineering #sheffield #universityofsheffield #space #rocketry #propulsion