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.
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