THUNDERCAT

"An ambitious project that elevates the Czech student rocket community to higher levels. It is actually the very beginning of a liquid-fuel rocket engine.”

Thundercat was an independent project aimed at designing an ignition device for a liquid-fueled 3 kN rocket motor called the Spark Torch Igniter. This project served as the basis for two bachelor's theses and was divided into two parts: the feed system and the igniter chamber design. The feed system addresses the overall issue of delivering propellants to the combustion chamber, including the design of tanks, their pressurization system, and pressure measurement in pipelines.

The combustion chamber involved calculating the necessary energy for igniting the rocket motor, from which the geometry of the chamber and nozzle was designed. Additionally, suitable materials, cooling systems, and fuel and oxidizer injection systems were selected. The igniter is designed for repeatable ignition and primarily serves as a demonstrator for ground tests.

Team members

Feed system

Kryštof Hájek

Combustion chamber

Jan Němec

Fuel parameters

Fuel

Isopropyl alcohol

Oxidizer

Gaseous Oxygen (GOX)

Chamber pressure

2.5 MPa

Tank pressure

4 MPa

Engine metrics

Burn time

Partners

The partner company was GMS Velkoobchod s.r.o.

Interesting facts

The same ignition system of the rocket engine is used, for example, in the RS-25 engines. These engines can be found on the space shuttle as well as on the first stage of the SLS rocket.