Rocket Lab Usa, Inc.

Rocket Labs Usa, Inc.

Lachlan Jesse Matchett

Peter Joseph Beck

Peter William Edward Barlow

Disclosed herein are various technologies pertinent to rocket engines, including injector, thrust chamber, and electrical turbopump devices that may be combined to provide a more efficient rocket engine.

Rocket engine injector

Disclosed herein are various technologies pertinent to rocket engines, including injector, thrust chamber, and electrical turbopump devices that may be combined to provide a more efficient rocket engine. The thrust chamber may be coupled with an injector having a circular array of support columns supporting a distribution system. Liquid may be flowed from the distribution system, through the support columns, and into a combustion chamber of the thrust chamber.

Turbopump, thrust chamber, and injector with distribution system and a circular array of support columns to flow liquid from the distribution system into a combustion chamber

Disclosed herein are various technologies pertinent to rocket engines, including injector, thrust chamber, and electrical turbopump devices that may be combined to provide a more efficient rocket engine. The electrical turbopump impeller includes a coolant bypass port fluidically connected with a coolant passage that passes through the impeller central hub and allows some of the propellant that is acted on by the impeller to bypass the impeller outlet and instead be flowed into the electrical turbopump housing so that the diverted propellant may be used to cool the various components housed within the housing such as the electric motor bearings, stator, rotor, and electronics.

Rocket engine turbopump with coolant passage in impeller central hub

Disclosed herein are various technologies pertinent to rocket engines, including injector, thrust chamber, and electrical turbopump devices that may be combined to provide a highly efficient rocket engine and methods of manufacturing such devices, such as additive manufacturing. The use of additive manufacturing techniques allows for injectors and thrust chambers with complex geometries that provide for more efficient engine operation, including, for example, thrust chambers with varying surface roughness within cooling passages thereof and injectors with multiple annular plenums.

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Auckland, New Zealand

Lachlan Jesse Matchett