Efesto
Not a rocket yet: Italy's first pressure-fed liquid engine, for the Team's first bi-liquid vehicle.Not a rocket yet: the liquid engine for the Team's first bi-liquid vehicle, and the first pressure-fed liquid engine built in Italy.
2023 – NOW
- OXIDIZER
- N₂O
- FUEL
- Ethanol
- THRUSTTARGET THRUST
- 5 kN
- CYCLE
- Pressure-fed
- COOLING
- Regenerative
- CHAMBER
- Cu MMC
01 – THE NAME
Named after the god of the forge.
Efesto is the Italian name of Hephaestus, the Greek god of fire and the forge. The engine is forged too: printed as one assembly in copper.
After two solid-motor rockets, Efesto is the Team's step to liquid propulsion: nitrous oxide and ethanol, fed by pressure, cooled by its own fuel.
Efesto is the Italian name of Hephaestus, god of fire and the forge. The engine is forged too: printed as one copper assembly.
02 – THE DESIGN
One engine, five work lines.
A regeneratively cooled chamber with a copper metal-matrix wall, developed with Politecnico's labs and printed as one assembly. The injector head was presented at the 26th ESA PAC Symposium in Luzern, May 2024.
A regeneratively cooled copper chamber, printed as one assembly. Injector head shown at the 26th ESA PAC Symposium, May 2024.
- 05Engine controlECS · control strategyECS · Engine Control Strategy
- 04Test benchTB · hot-fire standTB · Hot-fire test stand
- 03Liquid systemLSA · tanks, feed, valvesLSA · Tanks, feed lines and valves
- 02Engine cycleEC · RocketForge toolEC · Cycle design, RocketForge tool
- 01Thrust chamberTCA · printed Cu chamberTCA · Printed Cu chamber and injector
03 – THE PLAN
From a printed chamber to a flying engine.
Built in steps, each tested before the next begins.Efesto is built in steps, and each one is tested before the next begins.
DONE2023
Project starts
Five work lines around one goal: a student-built liquid engine.Five work lines set up around one goal: a liquid engine designed and built by students.
DONEMAY 2024
Injector head presented
26th ESA PAC Symposium, Luzern.Shown at the 26th ESA PAC Symposium in Luzern.
NOW2025 – 26
Chamber and feed system
Printing the copper chamber; tanks, feed lines, valves.Printing the copper chamber; building tanks, feed lines and valves.
NEXT
Hot fire on the bench
First firings toward the 5 kN target.First firings on the Team's own test stand, toward the 5 kN target.
LATER
First bi-liquid rocket
Efesto powers the Team's first liquid-fuelled vehicle.Efesto becomes the engine of the Team's first liquid-fuelled vehicle.
04 – WHY LIQUID
Why the Team is building its own engine.
01Control
A liquid engine can be throttled and shut down on command. A solid motor burns until it is empty.
02Testing
The same engine can fire again and again on the bench, so every test teaches something.
03Know-how
Designing the engine, not buying it, keeps the hardest part of a rocket inside the Team.
NEXT PROJECT · 01
Cavour
The Team's first rocket. Three flights in one year.