Glasgow engineers take one giant step for Scottish space flight.
A 'self-eating' rocket built by University of Glasgow engineers could boost the UK space travel industry.
Last updated 10th Jan 2024
University of Glasgow engineers have moved the UK a step closer to affordable space travel with a new ‘self-eating’ rocket.
Researchers have built and fired the first unsupported autophage engine which could see the UK take a bite of the growing space industry.
The machine can propel itself into the atmosphere by consuming its own structure to burn as fuel.
Rather than store fuel in an inevitably empty metal tank, the new design uses a plastic casing which gradually burns after launch - helping it’s climb and freeing up crucial cargo space.
The autophage - latin for ‘self-eating’ – will allow for small satellite launches on Scottish soil and could see further commercial space travel opportunities in the near future.
Postgraduate researcher at the University of Glasgow, Krzysztof Bzdyk said: “It comes from the idealised rocket equation.
“If you can stage a rocket infinitely you never carry empty propellant tanks or structure that's not being useful, so the idea has been around since the start of rocketry.
“There hasn't been a need for it up until now, because throughout the last century we have always been delivering really large satellites into orbit.
“Now with the onset of launching satellites the size of a shoebox - the idea of a design that eats itself is quite appealing.”
The engine which has been named Ourobouros-3, uses high density polyethylene plastic to encase its fuel.
It then burns alongside the conventional gaseous oxygen and liquid propane to fire its boosters.
Bzdyk and his fellow researchers, Professor Patrick Harkness and postgraduate Jack Tufft, are one of 23 space projects recently given a share of £4m in funding from the UK Space Agency.
CEO of the UKSA, Dr Paul Bate, said: “One of the key ways we catalyse investment into the UK’s growing space sector is by backing innovations in emerging area of space technology.
“The University of Glasgow’s impressive work towards an autophage engine is an example of one which has great potential o meet the growing global appetite for developments in the efficiency and sustainability of rocket propulsion.”
Jack Tufft, is well aware of the opportunities this could provide for budding aerospace engineers.
He said: “I think the UK has just realised that the talent pipeline, unlike in the U.S., doesn't exist here.
"We're having to build that from the ground up.
"We're needing to get some PHD's into our industry and fill that gap in the workforce for projects like this.”
The Glasgow trio will now present their research at the international AIAA SciTech Forum in Orlando, Florida, in a bid to further their technology with funding from industry giants.