Development of CFRP Reinforced Lightweight Hybrid Rocket Engine

Takano Laboratory of Kanagawa University is working on the development and production of an ultra-small rocket for inexpensive and rapid launch of ultra-small satellites using a hybrid rocket engine. In the past, Canadian HyperTEK Hybrid Engine was used. However, because this has a limitation on engine performance, Takano Laboratory started development of its own hybrid engine from FY 2015. The goal is to develop a new engine that is more lightweight and equivalent in performance to the HyperTEK L type. Weight reduction was succeeded by using carbon fiber composite material and flight experiment was also performed in FY 2016. In this paper, the results of a series of engine developments are reported.