Last week, ERPL closed out the year with a hotfire of our Triton Composite engine, testing the capabilities of our composite chamber and redesigned Draco V4 feed system ahead of our next MOE hotfire. Additional upgrades included the use of bang-bang pressurization, paving the way for continued MOE testing and optimization.
After an engine hardstart less than two months ago, ERPL successfully redesigned, rebuilt, and reached operational status with our new hardware, achieving an average of 943 lbf thrust over a 5 second burn.
Yesterday, we hotfired our Moe engine for the first time. 4 seconds into our 7.5 second planned burn, we experienced a failure of our nozzle. We were able to get good data from the initial burn and will be back to hotfiring this engine again in a couple of weeks.
Congratulations to everyone on our team for completing a safe test day and for making it to this point. Go Moe!
Here’s our new meeting schedule for the spring 2026 semester. All meetings take place in the Rocket Lab at LB 130 with the exception of RFP which will be held in LB 162.
This year has been a major step forward for our team, and ERPL would like to thank our sponsors, whose continued support has been essential to the rebuild of our fluids system and thrust structure. Your generosity drives our progress and allows us to continue pushing the boundaries of collegiate liquid rocketry.
SendCutSend | @sendcutsend
3Dconnexion | @3dconnexion
Metrologic DCS | @metrologicdcs
Kittyhawk | @kittyhawkinc
Extreme Canopy | @extreme_canopy
Evology | @evologymfg
Metalcraft | @metalcraftservices
Valworx | @valworxinc
Musk Foundation
Mastercam | @mastercam
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Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University | @embryriddledaytona
Embry-Riddle Student Government Association | @erausgadb
Last night, our team conducted waterflow testing of our Draco V4 feed system, bringing many improvements and changes since the last hotfire. In under 2 months, ERPL underwent a complete redesign and rebuild following our engine hardstart in late February.
The new system is designed to hotfire larger engines and more accurately maintain operating conditions during future hotfires.
Tomorrow, ERPL will execute the first hotfire test of this system with our Triton-Composite engine, intended to demonstrate and characterize our composite chambers ahead of our next MOE hotfire.
As we enter a new era of ERPL it’s important to remember how our failures and successes have shaped us and allowed us to learn. MOE is still going strong and we can’t wait to see where it takes us as we move forward.
Our first attempt at hot-firing a MOE V2 composite engine resulted in a hard start. The team followed preplanned contingencies to ensure safety of all personnel and the system was safed nominally. ERPL hot-fire testing is performed in a closed area and all debris was cleared following the test.
Damage was observed on the injector and some repairs to the test stand will be necessary before we resume hot-fire testing operations on the MOE engine. In the meantime, MOE integration and testing milestones will continue with water flows of the vehicle and GSE fluids systems planned for the coming weeks. We remain committed to flying MOE this year and the changes we implement following this test will serve to strengthen the reliability of our rocket.
On board camera footage from MINI-MOE flight 1.
The goal of this launch was to test the recovery systems for the full scale liquid bi-propellant MOE vehicle. MINI-MOE flight 2 is planned for next semester with the full MOE upper airframe and avionics.
Our new spring merch is now available! If you’d like to support us this is a great way to help out! 100% of profits are reinvested into getting MOE to flight, every cent counts! Link in bio to purchase.
Run it back 🚀
We would like to thank Professor Namilae and Embry-Riddle’s Composite Laboratory in the Research Park for their equipment during this process.
