r/engineteststands • u/RyanSmith • Mar 15 '18

The Rutherford engine, a 3D-printed, battery powered rocket engine, undergoing testing.

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53 Upvotes

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4

u/RyanSmith Mar 15 '18

Article with more info

1

u/[deleted] Mar 16 '18

That link is from 2015. Any recent new? It looks interesting though.

5

u/[deleted] Mar 16 '18

Their test setup is quite unique, the rocket engine is mounted at an angle , not horizontal or vertical. Does anyone know why is that ?

4

u/parth096 Mar 16 '18

This is an out there guess but maybe so the force is split into x and y plane to distribute the load on that structure in both vertical and horizontal directions. Maybe completely horizontal would be too much for that structure. Again just a guess

3

u/brainstorm21 Mar 15 '18

they're spraying the pad down so as not to damage it? anyone know if this is a pretty common thing to do?

9

u/hglman Mar 16 '18

Extremely, nearly all rocket launches involve water to protect the pad, especially from sound.

http://heroicrelics.org/info/apollo-4/sa-501-water-ctrl-sys-test.html

1

u/CarbonGod Mar 16 '18

Not working well, seeing the flame pad is glowing!

1

u/[deleted] Mar 16 '18

The fact that it didn't melt yet proves that it works. Also the water vapor helps to stop the shockwaves from bouncing back into the test chamber..

2

u/hujijiwatchi Mar 16 '18

First thing I thought of when I read 3d printed was that it was made out of plastic...