Rocket Turbopump Project
Our mission is to design and build a turbine and gas generator for rocket engines. This involves bleeding and burning a small amount of propellant from the pumps to feed the rocket. We plan to conduct electric pump testing in the summer of 2023 and aim for turbine-integrated testing in the summer of 2024. Our team includes experts in thermofluids, CFD, material science, metallurgy, instrumentation and controls, manufacturing, bearing, rotor, and structural dynamics. Our lead, Matthew Ho, is a former MACH Director and Liquid Bipropellant Engine Team Lead, currently specializing in Combustion & Propulsion. Our goals are to start fires, build a body of knowledge, learn about the state-of-art, conduct trade studies, interface with and educate the rest of the team, create and utilize tools for design and analysis, manufacture the system precisely and economically, develop tests and verification methods, identify performance parameters and metrics, and implement unobtrusive implementation. We also plan to integrate the turbopump and related hardware into the test trailer. Join us to gain useful skills and potentially specialize in different areas while contributing to the development of rocket engineering in Canada.
