India-based space technology company Astrophel Aerospace is developing a new cryogenic pump for its Astra C1 rocket – a launch vehicle designed to take small-scale satellites into space.
Once developed, the technology will be made flight-ready by fitting it with a turbine, turning the cryogenic pump – which moves cryogenic liquid using an external power source – into a turbopump.
In a turbopump, the turbine spins at thousands of revolutions per minute, driving huge amounts of liquid hydrogen or oxygen into the combustion chamber.
Currently, the company powers its first- and second-stage rocket engines using cryogenic fuel delivered by a cryo-pump system that rotates at 25,000 revolutions per minute. The one-litre-bottle-sized pump can produce 100 to 150 horsepower – roughly the same as an average family car engine.
… to continue reading this article and more, please login, register for free, or consider subscribing to gasworld
You’ve reached your weekly limit to access free articles!
Want to keep reading?
Please register for free and create a profile to gain access to this full article and gasworld’s daily news.
For access to more content including our monthly digital magazines, subscriber-only features or columns and all our other gasworld archives, please consider subscribing.
Alternatively, you can continue reading more articles as a guest on Thursday, 18th September at 11:28PM
