USC Liquid Propulsion Lab

https://www.linkedin.com/company/usclpl/

I have the privilege of being accepted to USC's Liquid Propulsion Lab (LPL) since Fall 2024. It is a graduate student led lab focusing on liquid propulsion engines and feed systems.

Prometheus

This feed system is designed to be a portable spark ignitor system using GOx / GCH4. This project has been in development off and on at LPL since the lab's creation. The semester I came on my team was able to take the designs and manufacture a prototype for testing.

MANUFACTURING

Manually creating lines, deciding between different types of fittings, NPT tape, Ox cleaning etc. were all new experiences that allowed me to gain hands on experience.

TESTING

I am very interested in the fluids testing portion of propulsion, thus I learned a lot from the Prometheus testing campaign. To start, each line section was tested through hydrostatic pressure testing. Leak testing then continued through a pressure test with our N2 purge line. Cold flows were the longest test portion to verify that our data was aligning with the theoretical values necessary to attain our goals.

Luckily we had the time and flexibility to allow me to try different positions: DAQ, Pingating, and TR. I also took the photos below...

HOTFIRE (11/25)

Unfortunately the hotfire day for Prometheus ended with a series of cold flows. The running theory is that the ignitor was not close enough to where the gases meet and it burns out (or cools down however you look at it) before the gases can reach the ignitor. This is something we never could have known until a hot fire test day. Great as a learning experience!

Luckily I was able to help prep for and witness the next hot fire by my lab for the new Theseus engine using the long running ATLAS feed system. One day we hope Prometheus can be used as consistently as ATLAS currently is in our lab.

Keep reading for our next semester of successful hotfires!

HOTFIRE (04/25)

SUCCESS! Prometheus successfully fired 27 times in one test day. Please see the linkedln post below for more information:

We lit! 🔥 On Monday, the USC Liquid Propulsion Laboratory (LPL)'s Prometheus team performed 27 successful ignitions of their augmented spark igniter. Two melted thermocouples later, the team has… | USC Liquid Propulsion Laboratory (LPL)We lit! 🔥 On Monday, the USC Liquid Propulsion Laboratory (LPL)'s Prometheus team performed 27 successful ignitions of their augmented spark igniter. Two melted thermocouples later, the team has proven reliable and repeatable ignition for gaseous oxygen and methane. Prometheus was first conceived 6 years ago, with its test stand only just built in Fall 2024. After two unsuccessful hot fire attempts, the team dedicated the semester to extensively analyze and overcome failure points in the spark circuit and torch design. Prometheus is now a validated system for integration with Nomad’s copper-heatsink chamber for our next hotfire campaign in 9 days. This achievement marks a major milestone in our ambitious journey towards full subsystem integration into a hopper vehicle, and we're giving it our absolute best! Ad astra per aspera 🚀 💫

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