First Person View of Operating a Liquid Rocket Engine

September 9, 2023
You have to make tradeoffs when performing a liquid rocket static test. The last time we tested this motor, I had my cameras rolling, but we forgot to start recording the data acquisition (DAQ) which would record our test data. This time, in order to make sure the DAQ was recording, I had to forget to start most of my cameras. This time, however, I had a camera on my helmet to record everything, but elevated just enough so you can't see the cool pad controller.
This was a short duration test firing of the Newman-1 engine, a 75% Ethanol-LOX rocket, performed at the Reaction Research Society's Mojave Test Area. Only 1 gallon each of fuel and oxidizer were loaded initially. The top-down camera, the only gopro that was recording at the pad, was able to note a fuel rich end as ethanol was thrown onto the sand, which is expected as some of the LOX boils off after propellant loading.
This test stand is different than before, and the configuration is different than what the motor was designed for. Instead of a blowdown configuration, it is running with dual regulated pressure straight from a gas bottle. The lack of dip tubes and an uninsulated fuel tank meant that the internal pressures rose quickly with the warming of the fuel. As expected, there were several unexpected events, but we continued on after consulting with each other, since nominal performance was not the primary objective of the test. With the test data though, we can tweak our propulsion system for the next test.