University of Calgary engineering students building a biofuel-powered rocket engine [Video]

The majority of rockets today are liquid-powered, using both a fuel and an oxidizer.

SpaceX fuels its rockets with methane or refined kerosene and the oxidizer is liquid oxygen.

The BioRocket Team at the University of Calgary is looking at substituting the fuel with diesel, ethanol or sustainable aviation fuel.

Nitrous oxide will act as the oxidizer.

“The nitrous basically lets it burn,” said Lukas Kobler, BioRocket project manager.

“So, if you think, like, a can of hairspray on a lighter, that’s what the oxidizer is doing. It’s making the flame a lot bigger, a lot more powerful.”

Kobler says rocket engines being reused now changes the cost structure of the process.

“Up until recently, the majority of the cost of launching a rocket was the rocket itself, because we would fly these rockets and we would dispose of them,” he said.

“Now, though, we’re looking at reusable rockets. So now, that cost balance is flipping and …