Startup 3D printed rocket engine and showed how it works

Now the startup is creating a Launcher Light rocket, which is designed to launch up to 150 kg of useful material into orbit.

loads. The company said that the E-2 engine chamber was entirely made using a 3D printer: it was printed from a copper alloy.

It is specified that this is a copper-chromium-zirconium alloy(CuCrZr). It was chosen because its use reduces costs and simplifies supply chains compared to the aerospace-grade copper alloy traditionally used in combustion chambers.

Launcher used an AMCM M4K printer toassemble elements of the propulsion system. For now, the Launcher Light rocket won't be reusable, but the startup has confirmed that it plans to create a reusable version with nine engines and a reusable first stage. 

Engine tests were successfully completed at the John Stennis Space Center. The E2 was able to achieve a thrust rating of 10 metric tons. The combustion pressure was 100 bar.

Read more:

Watch live as a bus-sized asteroid approaches Earth             

Astronomers have found a planet near the Earth: it has a very strange orbit

It has been hunted for centuries: what do we know about the planet Vulcan next to the Sun