Pangea Aerospace

[sevenperforce]

I didn't see a thread yet for this, so I figured why not go ahead and talk about it?

Spanish smallsat launch startup with a dual-regeneratively-cooled methalox aerospike engine. Or, more accurate, a "spike" engine; there's no truncation of the nozzle.

Here's one of the hot fires:

Some of their corporate material suggests a two-stage reusable rocket:

This cutaway seems to confirm an annular chamber:

I do love a dual-expander cycle methalox design, if that's what they're doing here. Won't have a TWR ratio as good as staged combustion but there's still something very pure about it.

[Beccab]

8 minutes ago, sevenperforce said:

I didn't see a thread yet for this, so I figured why not go ahead and talk about it?

Spanish smallsat launch startup with a dual-regeneratively-cooled methalox aerospike engine. Or, more accurate, a "spike" engine; there's no truncation of the nozzle.

Here's one of the hot fires:

Some of their corporate material suggests a two-stage reusable rocket:

This cutaway seems to confirm an annular chamber:

I do love a dual-expander cycle methalox design, if that's what they're doing here. Won't have a TWR ratio as good as staged combustion but there's still something very pure about it.

Interesting, why is the nozzle not truncated? From what I know, it's very rarely worth it to keep the full spike

[Scotius]

Lovely blue flame and Mach diamonds. I wish them best of luck with their plans.

[sevenperforce]

32 minutes ago, Beccab said:

Interesting, why is the nozzle not truncated? From what I know, it's very rarely worth it to keep the full spike

I don't know. Possible that since it is an expander cycle, they want to maximize the surface area to maximize the power output of the cycle. The more heat they can acquire, the higher chamber pressure they can achieve. That's particularly important with methalox, after all, since methane has a lower heat capacity than hydrogen. It's a 3D-printed engine, I believe, so that makes designing the cooling channels for maximum heat takeup a little easier than it otherwise would be.

I'm guessing it's a pure dual closed expander cycle without a split. But who can tell for sure?

Interestingly enough one of their patents contemplates first-stage recovery using ducted lift fans located perpendicularly up the sides of the first stage.