Here is a project that I have been working on for the past week: The FUROEngine, an air-breathing hybrid rocket engine designed for interplanetary spacecraft.
It has three modes of operation:
Air breathing:
Air goes through the pre-cooler (a series of heat-exchangers which cool it down from over 1000C to minus 150C) after which the air goes through two compressors and is mixed with the fuel and helium in the pre-burner.
Alongside this a hot air stream is mixed with hot gas (from liquid hydrogen) in the ram-jet burners.
Oxidizer and hydrogen closed cycle:
Liquid Oxygen and Liquid Hydrogen are mixed in pre-burners and hot gases are pumped through the main gas manifolds to the combustion chamber.
Hydrogen fusion:
Hydrogen is injected directly into the main combustion chamber where magnetic coils compress and ionize the hydrogen to create a plasma that is ejected through a magnetized nozzle.
Note that radiation shields are necessary to protect the ship and crew from radiation. For this reason Hydrogen fusion is not used while in-atmosphere and near space stations/other ships.
Air breathing:
Air goes through the pre-cooler (a series of heat-exchangers which cool it down from over 1000C to minus 150C) after which the air goes through two compressors and is mixed with the fuel and helium in the pre-burner.
Alongside this a hot air stream is mixed with hot gas (from liquid hydrogen) in the ram-jet burners.
Oxidizer and hydrogen closed cycle:
Liquid Oxygen and Liquid Hydrogen are mixed in pre-burners and hot gases are pumped through the main gas manifolds to the combustion chamber.
Hydrogen fusion:
Hydrogen is injected directly into the main combustion chamber where magnetic coils compress and ionize the hydrogen to create a plasma that is ejected through a magnetized nozzle.
Note that radiation shields are necessary to protect the ship and crew from radiation. For this reason Hydrogen fusion is not used while in-atmosphere and near space stations/other ships.
More will come.
RSS Feed
