Redefining Possibility
Our first engine, Cardinal, is a self-developed bipropellant liquid rocket engine, which delivered 3.34 kN ASL in our most recent static fire. This makes it the most powerful rocket engine fired by a high school team in the US. It runs on liquid nitrous oxide and ethanol. Future plans aim to test this engine at 30 bar Pc, delivering up to 7.5 kN ASL.
Design Thrust: 3 kN (685 lbf)
Achieved Thrust: 3.34 ± 0.4 kN (751 lbf)
Target Thrust: 7.5 kN (1685 lbf)
Achieved Chamber Pressure: 16 bar (232 psi)
Target Chamber Pressure: 30 bar (435 psi)
Target Burn Time: 2.6 seconds
Cooling: Heatsink [3] w/ CHAMBERSAFE ablator [2]
Specific Impulse: 148 sec. ASL
Fuel: 95% v/v Ethanol
Oxidizer: Nitrous Oxide
Igniters: Redundant C6 Estes motors [4]
Injector: Scrintle or pintle [1]
|| Gaining Experience
As Bluebird’s first engine, Cardinal’s purpose is clear: to give this team the experience–in design, engineering, management, and operations, as we prepare for flight.
|| Pushing Boundaries
Cardinal 1 became the most powerful liquid-fueled engine ever built by a high-school team at the time of its firing, and we’re just getting started. Cardinal 1 operates at a conservative chamber pressure and design, but the high performance targets give us the experience we need to push even further with our next engine.
