Helios Engine

Helios Injector

Helios Test Stand

Helios Feed System


In the Fall of 2018, the team began the Helios engine project. Helios is a pressure-fed bi-propellant liquid engine designed to produce 350lbf and is fed with diluted Ethanol & LOX by an accompanying test stand. Helios's two main goals are to:

  1. Understand basic engine design principles by building a simple engine.
  2. Learn how to efficiently and safely test high-pressure engines by building a pressurized feed stand.

We built the test stand, integrated the chamber assembly onto the test stand, and conducted leak testing in Nov 2023. Successfully fired on May 16th, 2024!


Specifications:

Heat-sink cooled
Pressure-fed, gN2
Chamber pressure @ 500 psi
Made out of 1018C Steel
360 lbf thrust, 5 second burn

Chamber diameter: 3.157 in
Throat diameter: 0.789
Expansion ratio: 5.82
L* : 40.83 in
Yield strength: 370 MPa
MEOP: 7.48 MPa


Design Review:

HeliosDesignReview.pdf


Milestones:

Nov 4: We setup our test stand at our test site in Maine for the first time.

Nov 11: We conducted switchbox tests, leak tests, igniter tests, and data acquisition system tests at our test site.

Liquid Propulsion Subteam


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