Vector Awarded Patent for Enhanced Liquid Oxygen-Propylene Rocket Engine

Vector a microsatellite launch company comprised of New Space and enterprise software industry veterans from SpaceX, Virgin Galactic, McDonnell Douglas, Boeing, Sea Launch and VMware, has announced that the company received a U.S. patent for its enhanced liquid oxygen-propylene rocket engine.

Vector is the first and only launch provider to utilize propylene fuel and liquid oxygen (LOX) in an operational launch system. This engine patent validates the innovative nature of Vector's approach and further protects the company's fundamental technology as it prepares to deliver customer payloads to orbit.

Vector's decision to pursue liquid oxygen and propylene as an alternative propellant technology is a strategic one.

The unique properties of propylene as rocket fuel, including its density when chilled to near-cryogenic temperatures and energetic capabilities compared to that of other hydrocarbon fuels like RP-1 or Methane, enables Vector to deliver higher engine performance with smaller fuel tanks and avoid turbo-pumps traditionally used for other hydrocarbon fuels.

By utilizing oxygen and propylene as propellants and propriety engine technology, Vector is effectively reducing the complexity and cost of its rockets, which are smaller, more reliable and unique to the launch vehicle market.

"Vector is the only launch company committed to propylene as a propellant and the first to use it in an operational vehicle, so this patent is not just an important validation but also serves as intellectual property protection," said John Garvey, President of Launch Services, Vector.

"We've been incrementally testing this critical technology for several years in a series of flight test projects and are happy to see the patent awarded. This signals another important milestone for Vector as we work towards orbital launch capability."

Development of Vector's enhanced liquid oxygen-propylene rocket engine first began at Garvey Spacecraft Corporation, with early research sponsored by NASA and the U.S. Air Force. Vector's acquisition of Garvey Spacecraft in 2016, and the subsequent development of the Vector-R rocket, is a continuation of that technological lineage.

Poised to reshape the multi-billion-dollar launch market by dramatically increasing access and speed to orbit, Vector has borrowed best practices from the automotive industry to revolutionize the rocket production process.

In just the last two and a half years Vector has built its Vector-R launch vehicle, and opened production facilities in Tucson to immediately ramp up rocket manufacturing and fly satellites into orbit.

To learn more about the Vector-R launch vehicle, please visit here

Related Links
Vector Space Systems
Rocket Science News at Space-Travel.Com

Tweet

Thanks for being there;
We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain.

With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords.

Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year.

If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.

SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter
$5+ Billed Monthly

paypal only

SpaceDaily Contributor
$5 Billed Once

credit card or paypal

Russia plans to develop reusable stage for carrier rocket by 2023, FPI Says
Moscow (Sputnik) Sep 21, 2018
A fully-functioning prototype of the return stage of a reusable launch vehicle will be built in Russia within the next four years, an official from Russia's Advanced Research Foundation (FPI) told Sputnik. "As for the whole project, we are counting on four years from the start of the fully-fledged work...According to our estimates, the work will begin in the first half of next year," the official said. He clarified that the project to create a reusable stage was dubbed "Wing-SR" (stage reusa ... read more