Antares e.V.
20 kN Testbed
- Details
- Ignition Tests
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- Fuel Ignition
Lander
100 kN Testbed
Hybrid Launcher
The igniter starts the burning process. The ignition gas mixture is still fuel rich, you can see that by the orange flame color.
The gas stream blows away the remaining ignition gas mixture.
Ignition Tests
The ignition system of our hybrid main engine depends on a self developed small butane gas rocket engine.
Watch the
video
(Quicktime .mov format, 4.2 MByte) of an ignition test.
and the
video
(Quicktime .mov format, 4.2 MByte) of a long duration run.
Though the ignition engine is very small, we had many problems with it. Liquid engines are allways very dangerous! So we warn everybody not to copy our engine, nor to develop any home brewed liquid engines, even if they are small!
One can`t rule out the possibility of ignition delays that can have catastrophic consequences. Deadly head or body injuries would be common consequences. This is one of the main reasons why our main engine is a hybrid engine. Hybrid engines can`t detonate because of their internal physical laws.
A seven hole ignition engine in action
A seven hole ignition engine close up: you can see seven small flames
The ignition engine stops after 3 seconds burning time. Within this time period the polyethylene block should be ignited.
A one hole ignition engine in action