March 05, 2025
Prototype torch igniter liquid feed ignition demonstrated
The small flame that starts the fire at the heart of our rocket engines.
Special thanks to Airborne Engineering Ltd and Buckinghamshire council for their support with testing our prototype rocket engine torch igniter running with cryogenic liquid methane and liquid oxygen using Airborne's test stand on Westcott Venture Park.
This small and simple looking, but deceptively complex, component is one of the most challenging pieces of our rocket engine's thrust chamber. It's responsible for ensuring reliable and repeatable ignition of our rocket engines across all regimes of flight and possible conditions. On the ground before liftoff, in the vacuum of space, and hot or cold - this component needs to work. Failure to ignite, or delayed ignition, can cause mission failure or a rocket engine 'hard start' and subsequent RUD (rapid unscheduled dissassembly).
This testing, and our previous gaseous testing of the same first prototype in our own facility, have provided us valuable data and validation of our simulations and demonstrated ignition with both gaseous and liquid propellant feeds. Future prototypes, building upon learnings from this iteration, will be a reliable ignition source for our thrust chambers!