Update: Thank you for helping us reach our goal so quickly! We are grateful for the outpour of support, and glad to have a community that believes in us. Any donations beyond our original goal will go towards further testing of our Nephas engine, including the thrust vector control and throttle milestones for the CPLC challenge.
Our Story:
After years of hard work, we have finally completed the design of our newest engine Nephas. Our engine test stand, which had suffered critical damages from a fire in 2019, is finally recovered, and its operation was verified with an older engine at the beginning of this year. This marked the first hot fire for SEDS in the last five years. Now we are working towards a new goal, the first test of a new engine since 2018. Our members are ready to see their new engine design in action, however, we lack the funds to cover our test trip.
Every trip out to the desert costs us about $4,000, including the propellants for the engine and the cost of transporting our test stand. Our members have been paying out of pocket to have fuel for cold flowing our engine. We have everything ready for a hot fire, but we can no longer afford to go out to the test site. We are hoping to raise enough funds to cover a test by our target fire date at the beginning of April. If we can successfully achieve this first test, we will be participating in a milestone attempt for the Collegiate Propulsive Lander Challenge, where Nephas qualifies for two prizes totaling $30,000.
If you can, please share our campaign with your friends and family, and help us reach this goal! We depend on your contributions to fund student dreams. Thank you for your help!
About The Engine:
Nephas is a throttling, thrust-vectoring, reusable, restartable, pressure-fed LOX/LNG rocket engine additively manufactured from a copper superalloy. It is designed to be a complete standalone package requiring minimal modification for integration with vehicles. Nephas will power both our Riptide lander and Halya rocket.
About Us:
SEDS UCSD is a platform dedicated to developing the next generation of aerospace technology by empowering students to work on industry-level projects at a collegiate level. We aim to make liquid rocketry accessible to all. As a catalyst for change, SEDS UCSD believes that empowering students to unite and become game changers for space development is critical to cultivating the next generation of leaders.
We are currently working towards multiple projects to advance student learning through participation in real-life engineering challenges. With your help, we will be able to take students to the Mojave desert to test the engine and rocket components they have designed. We are currently hoping to compete in a competition May 2024 to launch a high altitude rocket to a projected 35,000 feet with a Liquid Oxygen/Liquid Methane engine. Your contributions will directly help students test their new engine Nephas.
Our organization has a demonstrated history of firsts such as the first additively manufactured rocket engine to be hot-fired (Tri-D) and the first additively manufactured rocket engine to be flown (Ignus I). We have been recognized by industry leaders and by our community for our contributions, including winning project of the year at the SpaceVision 2017 conference and placing 3rd in the NASA CubeQuest competition. Prior to the founding of the Halya project, SEDS has launched two rockets, including Vulcan 1, which will be displayed in the California Science Center after its renovation.
