ARCA's revolutionary aerospike engine completed and ready for testing

ARCA Space Corporation has announced its linear aerospike engine is ready to start ground tests as the company moves towards installing the engine in its Demonstrator 3 rocket. Designed to power the world's first operational Single-Stage-To-Orbit (SSTO) satellite launcher, the engine took only 60 days to complete from when fabrication began... continue reading http://newatlas.com/arc-aerospike-linear-engine-complete/51431/


Press Release:


Demonstrator 3 aerospike engine ready to start tests




The ground test stand and aerospike engine for the Demonstrator 3 rocket are ready for tests at ARCA Space Corporation. The effort was completed in 60 days since the start of fabrication. The system will perform a series of ground tests that will ultimately qualify the engine for flight. After the ground tests, the same engine will be integrated into the Demonstrator 3 rocket that will perform a suborbital space flight up to an altitude of 120 km above the New Mexico desert. It will be the first ever flight of a linear aerospike engine and the first ever space flight of an aerospike engine. The engine, with a sea level thrust of 4.2 tons, uses hydrogen peroxide 70% as monopropellant. Despite low energy propellant, the rocket is able to reach space due to the use of an extremely lightweight tank and high efficiency aerospike engine. Full press release here.