Investigation into a Novel Propellant Delivery System for 1000lbf Class Ultra-Low-Cost Reusable CubeSat Boost Engine, Year 1

Launch services for cube-satellites is a new and rapidly growing market with dozens of commercial players and millions of dollars in government investment in technology development over the past few years. While most cube-satellites are currently delivered to orbit as secondary payloads on large rockets, the need exists for dedicated launchers which can deliver a payload to a precise orbit on-demand. The innovation being developed by this project is a propellant delivery system for 1,000-lbf thrust class liquid rocket engines based on a high performance-to-weight internal combustion piston engine using LOX/CH4 propellants.