At precisely 1.43 pm GMT on April 9th 2003, Starchaser Industries Limited test fired their Churchill Mark 2 bi propellant liquid rocket engine. The liquid oxygen/kerosene powered system generated some 2,200 kilos of thrust for 15 seconds.
Liquid propulsion project leader Anthony Haynes said “The test was 100% successful, the engine performed exactly as predicted, we’re now looking forward to firing the engine for longer periods of time and opening up the throttle for a full three tonnes of thrust”.
Churchill 2, the largest engine of its kind to be fired in the UK in over 30 years will be tested exhaustively over the next few days.
In addition to valuable thrust data, temperature, chamber pressure and vibration sensor readings are also being recorded.
Once validated, the Churchill Mark 2 will swing into full production: five of these engines will be installed into the Nova airframe and others will be used aboard the Thunderbird RLV in pursuit of the US $10 million X Prize.
