@njanne19 Yeah all control authority comes from one, contra-rotating propeller stack. With the gimbal we get pitch and yaw, and by individually varying propeller speeds we get roll control.
We fired a really cool rocket engine - and broke some records while we were at it. 🔥This Rotating Detonation Rocket Engine produced more than 4,000 pounds of thrust, and included a 300-second continuous burn, which is believed to have set the record for longest duration hot firing of an RDRE engine to date. Watch it fire:
https://t.co/dL1PgEplTQ
The Astrobotic team recently completed a series of successful hot-fire tests using a flight-representative replica of Griffin-1’s full propulsion system. 🔥Throughout the test campaign, the main engines supplied by @FrontierAero fired 229 pulses. These tests validated engine performance and delivered essential data using firing profiles representative of actual flight conditions.
Griffin’s propulsion system uses a hypergolic bipropellant architecture with two fuel tanks and two oxidizer tanks, all pressure-fed by three helium pressurant tanks. During key mission phases, both the main engines and the attitude control system (ACS) thrusters will fire in pulsed modes to achieve maneuvers like the powered descent to the lunar surface. These critical tests were carried out at @exquadrum's FORGE testing facility, located at Southern California Logistics Airport.
Watching Griffin’s engines ignite is an exciting step forward in bringing this infrastructure-class lander online for the nation.
Last semester, Active Controls successfully demonstrated a throttled engine as part of the Collegiate Propulsive Lander Challenge. We are now carrying that momentum forward as we race toward future milestones, including the upcoming build of our lander vehicle, TOAD.
Normal FAR day yesterday: Leave at 3am. Get to FAR. Sleep in car. Get woken up by BPS static fire. Jerry rig ground support equipment for the British Empire. Get the scoop from the zoomers. Big chungus crashes. Liquid flies to 20 cm. Totaly brass rocket engine appears. It flies.