Nitrous Oxide and Isopropyl Alcohol Liquid Engine Test Stand, A.k.a (NILE)
NILE pictures
This is a test stand built out in Paso Robles as a push for a Spaceport that is currently being built out there in partnership with the NASA Ames program. I will be continuing the work of the previous lead in dealing with all the paperwork and keeping a clear line of communication with the manager of the Spaceport to allow for our continued work and presence to test larger and higher-powered rocket engines. Current projects aimed at being conducted are TVC, Regen, and the entire Lander challenge.
Picture of the stand being hooked up to the concrete helicopter pad, which was repurposed as a testing area.
Picture of the team I worked with last year, with the stand in the background. This was after a successful cold flow test of our test stand.
This was when we were transporting the stand out to Paso for the first time; we had to transport it in a trailer because of its size. Now, thinking about it, NILE should have been designed to fit inside the bed of a pickup truck to allow for easier transportation.
This was the first official hot fire on NILE. It was my Sille rocket engine, producing only 35 lbs of thrust, which isn’t much, but we can definitely scale up the amount of thrust produced by the rocket engine.