Spain: Zero 2 Infinity, a Spanish startup, will use a 3D-printed combustion chamber for the engines it is developing to power its orbital rocket, which is known as Bloostar.
Spain’s Andalusian Foundation for Aerospace Development (FADA) printed the combustion chamber for Zero 2 Infinity, the company announced on March 22.
Bloostar is a launch vehicle that is designed to use balloons to rise above the densest layer of Earth’s atmosphere before triggering rocket engines so that satellites weighing up to 75 kilograms could be placed into low Earth orbit.
FADA’s Advanced Center for Aerospace Technology, known as CATEC, created the combustion chamber that Zero 2 Infinity intends to use in its Teide 1 engines.
Bloostar carries six Teide 1 engines on its second stage, followed by one Teide 1 engine on its third stage. Teide 1 engines are capable of 2 kilonewtons of thrust. Six larger Teide 2 engines each providing 15 kilonewtons of thrust power Bloostar’s first stage. CATEC’s combustion chamber will also be a part of Teide 1.
Zero 2 Infinity wishes to use 3D printing to lower the cost, and environmental impact of the engines, as well as the time needed to build them. Working with CATEC, the company plans to apply artificial intelligence (AI) and neural networks to engineer more effectively cooled thrust chambers.
