Progress in the Areas of Additive Manufacturing and Turbopump Development of the Liquid Rocket Lab

The Cal Poly Pomona Liquid Rocket Lab (LRL) has sponsored many projects throughout its 9-year history. A new facility enclosure had its grand opening in April 2022. Construction of the Liquid Rocket Lab was completed to support research projects that will be conducted by LRL students. Our teams have taken on the challenges of conducting research in the areas of: Additive Manufacturing, developing the capability to produce a turbopump fed liquid rocket engine called ZEUS, and building a rocket capable of going to space called the Bronco 2. Each of these research areas contribute to building the capabilities of our LRL and advancing our overall objective of getting to space. The objective of our Additive Manufacturing (AM) project is to develop our capability to use our AM machine, MetalX, to build as many of our required parts for our turbopump engine as well as our rocket as is feasible. The objective of Project ZEUS is to design, develop and build a bi-propellant liquid rocket engine capable of propelling a launch vehicle on a suborbital trajectory to cross the Kármán Line (100km ASL). This engine aims to incorporate innovative design architectures such as regenerative cooling, a gas generator cycle turbopump feed system, and modern propellant injector designs. This project represents the next stepping-stone after the Ablative Chamber Engine (ACE) and Bronco 1 Launch Vehicle (B1LV) to fulfill Cal Poly Pomona Liquid Rocket Lab’s main program goal of becoming the first university to launch a liquid-propelled rocket to space. Finally, our Launch Vehicle design team has progressed through the process of launch readiness by using our Bronco 1 Launch Vehicle, B1LV, as a training ground for our launch process team. They have had numerous tests performed in familiarizing our teams with the requirements and processes needed for a safe launch vehicle loading and launch. This paper briefly describes the progress of each of these areas of research performed by our 2024-2025 teams as well as the next steps required to continue our efforts to get to space.