Status updates

This last Saturday we spent the day firing the new test engines. I was expecting a lot of trouble, as this particular engineering challenge sounds pretty bad on paper. We needed a seal that could hold high pressure, hot gasses in the chamber but still move freely.

But then it worked perfectly, first time. We re-ran the tests, and it worked perfectly again! Since things were moving so well, we decided to move on to the next tests early. This next test is to stop the engine's burn before the next propellant segment ignites.

We didn't have enough time to do anything fancy, so we just threw something together (involving cut out cardboard!). Amazingly enough, it actually almost worked - the engine was almost shut down before it re-lit. A simple amazing result, considering how quickly we put the test together.

We are progressing very rapidly, and should have more interesting things to share soon!