Executor is a
rocket engine
A rocket engine is a reaction engine, producing thrust in accordance with Newton's third law by ejecting reaction mass rearward, usually a high-speed Jet (fluid), jet of high-temperature gas produced by the combustion of rocket propellants stor ...
developed by
ARCA for use on its
Haas rocket series and on
IAR 111
The IAR-111 Excelsior was a supersonic mothership project, designed by ARCA Space Corporation, intended to transport a rocket payload up to and for developing space tourism related technologies. The aircraft was supposed to be constructed almost ...
Excelsior supersonic airplane. Executor uses
kerosene
Kerosene, or paraffin, is a combustibility, combustible hydrocarbon liquid which is derived from petroleum. It is widely used as a fuel in Aviation fuel, aviation as well as households. Its name derives from the Greek (''kērós'') meaning " ...
[http://spacefellowship.com/news/art29703/arca-has-completed-the-first-executor-rocket-engine.html] and
liquid oxygen
Liquid oxygen, sometimes abbreviated as LOX or LOXygen, is a clear cyan liquid form of dioxygen . It was used as the oxidizer in the first liquid-fueled rocket invented in 1926 by Robert H. Goddard, an application which is ongoing.
Physical ...
as propellants in a
gas-generator power cycle.
The injector of Executor is of the
pintle
A pintle is a pin or bolt, usually inserted into a gudgeon, which is used as part of a pivot or hinge. Other applications include pintle and lunette ring for towing, and pintle pins securing casters in furniture.
Use
Pintle/gudgeon sets have ...
type that was first used in the Apollo Program for the lunar module landing engine.
Propellants are fed via a single shaft, dual inducer-impeller
turbo-pump
A turbopump is a fluid pump with two main components: a rotodynamic pump and a driving gas turbine, usually both mounted on the same shaft, or sometimes geared together. They were initially developed in Germany in the early 1940s. The most co ...
. The turbine exhaust gases are used for attitude control of the Haas 2 rocket.
Variants
Two versions of the Executor are in development. The Executor engine for the first stage of the Haas 2B and Super Haas launchers and for the IAR-111 Excelsior airplane. The second variant is the Executor Plus engine that it uses a larger exhaust nozzle optimized for vacuum operation. The Executor Plus is used on the Haas 2 air-launched rocket and on the second stage of the Super Haas rocket.
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Engine description
Executor, uses an inexpensive, expendable,
ablatively cooled silica-phenolic and
carbon fiber
Carbon fiber-reinforced polymers (American English), carbon-fibre-reinforced polymers ( Commonwealth English), carbon-fiber-reinforced plastics, carbon-fiber reinforced-thermoplastic (CFRP, CRP, CFRTP), also known as carbon fiber, carbon comp ...
composite nozzle, and produce 260 kN of thrust. The engine's ablative nozzle is designed for a 180-second run. The internal structure of the engine is made of silica-phenolic composite, while the outer structure is carbon-epoxy. The structure thickness varies from 10mm to 30mm. Beside the ablative cooling, the engine is using a kerosene film cooling method.
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Engine development schedule
The Executor engine construction started at
ARCA in December 2011. The first ground test was scheduled for the middle of 2012. Twelve engines were scheduled to be built in the first phase, until the first flight on board of the Haas 2 rocket in 2013. This first ground flight of the Haas 2 rocket will be for the
Google Lunar X Prize
The Google Lunar X Prize (GLXP) was a 2007–2018 inducement prize space competition organized by the X Prize Foundation, and sponsored by Google. The challenge called for privately funded teams to be the first to land a lunar rover on t ...
Competition. After this flight, the engine will be integrated on the IAR 111 Excelsior supersonic airplane.
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See also
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Merlin (rocket engine)
Merlin is a family of rocket engines developed by SpaceX. They are currently a part of the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launch vehicles, and were formerly used on the Falcon 1. Merlin engines use RP-1 and liquid oxygen as rocket propellants in a ga ...
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Fastrac (engine)
Fastrac was a turbo pump-fed, liquid rocket engine. The engine was designed by NASA as part of the low cost X-34 Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) and as part of the Low Cost Booster Technology (LCBT, aka Bantam) project. This engine was later kn ...
References
{{reflist
Rocket engines using kerosene propellant
ARCAspace
Rocket engines using the gas-generator cycle