Experimental Hybrid Rocket Engine Tests 1-8

The first 8 tests of our prototype hybrid rocket engine designed and built by high school students of the Canadian Student Space Initiative. The hybrid rocket engine uses solid paraffin wax fuel and oxygen gas as oxidizer. The first 3 tests were failures due to the engine being unable to produce any thrust to be measured by the digital force meter but the performance improved greatly starting from test 4, with the highest thrust produced being 22 newtons and a specific impulse of around 250. The overall design focuses mostly on rapid reusability and simplicity by using screw secured modular nozzles and fuel casings allowing for fast interchange of different nozzle designs and fuel casings. This project has been a really important learning experience for CSSI students and keep posted for more updates on the development of our projects!

Edited by David Lu and Peter Zhang
Filming by David Lu

The Canadian Student Space Initiative (CSSI) is a student-run, non-profit organization founded in the Summer of 2018 to engage students across Canada to participate in space exploration. Since founding, we have developed a small hybrid rocket motor that has produced just under 30N of thrust and over 110N·s of impulse. This motor has undergone 3 test firing series investigating how different parameters (ex. % mass of carbon black opacifier added) affects its operation.

Learning from the small hybrid motor, we are well on our way into the development of a high-powered rocket. This rocket will be powered by a large hybrid rocket motor capable of producing up to 1kN of thrust.

We are also working on a series of educational videos explaining the basics of rocketry, as well as designing a guide with many activities that can be done in science clubs and other organisations across Canada to learn about space exploration and rocketry.

[admiralgama]

It's cool to see how you progress from no thrust to G class!