Agile Space Industries completed the design, fabrication, and initial hot-fire testing of a bipropellant rocket engine in under ten weeks. The 250 N engine operates on MMH/MON-3 and exceeded its specific impulse target of 290 seconds. Key to the accelerated development was the use of additive manufacturing for the titanium injector and silicide-coated niobium alloy combustion chambers, enabling rapid iteration and delivery of high-temperature hardware. The injector design leveraged the geometric freedom of 3D printing, while the silicide coatings allowed us to characterize thermal performance under extended duty cycles. Across a two-week campaign, we performed 29 tests including pulse mode and steady-state firings up to 45 seconds. Helium actuated valves were used for transient testing as a substitute for solenoid valves. We gathered comparative thermal data from coated and uncoated chambers, with uncoated units demonstrating durability beyond 400 seconds of cumulative firing. The 14-person integrated development and test team, supported by co-located manufacturing resources, enabled a highly agile workflow. This effort highlights the potential for additive manufacturing and integrated test infrastructure to significantly reduce propulsion development timelines.
Lars Osborne, Chief Engineer | Agile Space Industries
Lars Osborne is the chief engineer for pulse mode bipropellant rocket engine development at Agile Space Industries. Since joining as employee #3, he has been a technical lead for the development of 5 new thrusters, including the qualified and delivered A110 thruster which will be flying on multiple moon lander missions starting in 2025. Prior to joining Agile Space Industries he was the lead design engineer for the HYDROS propulsion system at Tethers Unlimited and a propulsion integration engineer for the Blacksky imaging constellation.