Conceive, Design, Build, and Demonstrate a Rocket Engine Turbopump and Test Bed

Kinjal Ruecker
Advisor: Prof. Spakovszky, Prof. Cordero

The objective of this project is to achieve a reliable pump architecture that minimizes the thermal exposure of components downstream from the pre-burner and that leverages high-temperature materials and coatings, specifically tailored to withstand the extreme operating conditions. Elements of the proposed sub-scale demonstrator will be developed at MIT leveraging the design freedom enabled by metal additive manufacturing, novel high temperature materials such as oxide dispersion-strengthened superalloys, and thermal shock-resistant environmental barrier coatings.