Small-Scale, Methane-Fueled Reaction Control Engines for In-Space Propulsion

Given increasing interest in high-performance, Methane-fueled reaction control engines in the 5-100lbf thrust class, Ventions proposes the design, fabrication and hot-fire testing of a nominal 50lbf engine that is batch fabricated in a low-cost manner using a novel manufacturing process. The proposed approach leverages several years of DARPA and NASA funded work by Ventions in the successful development and ground / flight testing of such configurations, and allows for the realization of complex regenerative cooling passages and injector geometries previously unattainable by conventional fabrication methodologies.