Power pack people

Rocket Factory Augsburg, based in Germany, has developed and tested their Helix engine – the first European engine to demonstrate staged combustion technology. This engine uses an oxygen-rich staged combustion engine cycle, where a small fraction of propellants is burned in a pre-burner to drive the turbine, and the resulting gases are fed into the main combustion chamber with the remaining propellants – getting every last drop of energy out of the propellant.

RFA are improving on their engine design with their Helix 2.0 model and have now completed a set of tests at Esrange Space Center in Sweden of a new power pack that ran at stable operations and at the physical limits of flow rates. Dr. Stefan Brieschenk, RFA Chief Operating Officer said, “Helix 2.0 is designed to deliver double the thrust, 200kN, for our RFA One launch vehicle, while mass, production technology and costs remain comparable to Helix 1.0. The result for our customers: more payload for a lower budget!”