Tag: Vortex

Sierra Space Advances Storable Liquid Propulsion System

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Hypergolic engine testing (Credit: Sierra Space)

LOUISVILLE, Colo., June 7, 2021 (Sierra Space PR) – Sierra Space, the new commercial space subsidiary of global aerospace and national security leader Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC),  successfully completed testing of its hypergolic, or storable, liquid rocket propulsion system for orbit transfer, maneuvering and guidance control. Sierra Space’s patented VORTEX® engine cooling technology enables a compact and highly reliable propulsion system that can be stored for long periods of time on the ground and in space.

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SNC Leverages VORTEX Engine Technology for DARPA’s OpFires Program

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VORTEX hot fire. (Credit: Combat Capabilities Development Command, Aviation and Missile Center)

SPARKS, Nev. (April 2, 2020) – Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC), the global aerospace and national security leader owned by Eren and Fatih Ozmen, reached a major milestone in the advancement of hypersonic propulsion with its patented VORTEX engine, advancing to the next phase of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (DARPA) Operational Fires (OpFires) program.

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Tethers Unlimited Aims to Put SPIDERs on Mars

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by Douglas Messier
Managing Editor

During the 1970’s, David Bowie sang about Ziggy Stardust and the spiders from Mars. If Tethers Unlimited has its way, the Red Planet will be crawling with them.

Earlier this month, NASA selected the Bothell, Washington-based company for a small business award to work on its Sensing and Positioning in Deep Environments with Retrieval (SPIDER) surface exploration system.

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Sierra Nevada’s New VORTEX Upper Stage Engine Closer to Reality

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VORTEX engine test (Credit: Sierra Nevada Corporation)

SPARKS, Nev., October 11, 2018 (SNC PR) – With its patented VORTEX™ engine technology, Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) is one step closer to testing a brand new version of its low-cost, high-performance upper stage rocket engine. The VR35K-A, developed in conjunction with the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), is a commercialized version of the VORTEX engine system. The team will provide a fully integrated engine, leveraging technologies initially developed under Small Business Innovation Research programs.

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ORBITEC Expands Vortex Engine With New Propellant Demo

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Thrust vortex engine test (Credit: ORBITEC/SNC)
Thrust vortex engine test (Credit: ORBITEC/SNC)

MADISON, Wis. (Nov. 10, 2015) – Sierra Nevada Corporation’s (SNC) wholly-owned subsidiary Orbital Technologies Corporation (ORBITEC) recently completed successful testing and demonstration of three different propellant combinations for its existing 30,000-pound thrust vortex rocket engine. Completing this advancement in less than a year, ORBITEC is rapidly progressing its offering of engines for orbital maneuvering, upper-stage engines that ignite at high altitude, and small-to-medium-scale air and ground launch stage engines.

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ORBITEC Selected for 3 SBIR and 1 STTR Phase I Awards

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ORBITEC vortex propulsion technology. (Credit: ORBITEC)
ORBITEC vortex propulsion technology. (Credit: ORBITEC)

NASA has selected Orbital Technologies Corporation (ORBITEC) for three Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and one Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I awards for a high performance nano-launcher, miniature CubeSat propulsion, vortex propulsion technology, and a waste compactor.

The OBITEC proposals that NASA selected for negotiations include:

  • High Performance Nanolauncher (STTR with Penn State University)
  • Miniature Nontoxic Nitrous Oxide-Propane (MINNOP) Propulsion
  • VTX HyHeat — vortex propulsion technology
  • Plastic Melt Waste Compactor Flight Demonstrator Payload (PFDP)

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ORBITEC Set to Test New Vortex Engine

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ORBITEC's Vortex engine. (Credit: ORBITEC)

An interesting item from the Wisconsin State Journal on a new rocket engine design:

Orbital Technologies Corp. received the first of two rockets that could someday send the Madison company’s fortunes sky high — or at least fulfill the dreams of its rocket scientists. The rockets — built by Garvey Spacecraft Corp., of Long Beach, Calif., and California State University at Long Beach — will incorporate a vortex rocket engine designed by Orbitec.

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