A NEW ROCKET engine developed and tested by UK companies will be fired in orbit for the first time aboard a satellite in 1997.
The 0.4kN (88lb)-thrust engine is the brainchild of Surrey Satellite Technology (SSTL), at the University of Surrey, in Guildford - the UK's only satellite builder.
The engine is designed to boost a satellite from low orbit into a higher one. It will enable small, low-cost, quick-response micro-satellites, nicknamed Smallsats, to be more versatile, allowing the vehicle to be used on more missions in different kinds of orbit.
SSTL has built over 11 Smallsats, each weighing about 55kg, for customers worldwide.
The hybrid engine, tested with funding from the US Air Force, is fired using an inexpensive rubber/polyethylene plastic solid fuel and liquid-oxygen/hydrogen-peroxide oxidiser. It can be shut down and restarted and also throttled, enabling it to place the Smallsat into a variety of orbits.
The engine has been successfully tested by the University's Centre for Satellite Engineering Research at the Royal Ordnance factory at Westcott, Buckinghamshire.
SSTL's latest spacecraft, the FA Sat Alpha, is being built for the Chilean air force under a £3 million contract. The company is to launch the first in a range of 270kg satellites in 1996, which "...will develop innovative ways to lower the cost of propulsion systems".
Source: Flight International
