The University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) and the University of Glasgow have initiated a new research partnership for the development of space propulsion technologies.
The collaboration has been made possible by the UK Government which is providing R2 million in funding to support the technology programme through the UK’s Department of Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), the UKZN announced on 29 October.
The collaboration will see researchers from the University of Glasgow’s Space and Exploration Technology Group working with propulsion engineers from UKZN’s Aerospace Systems Research Institute (ASRI) to improve metal additive manufacturing techniques, also called 3D printing, for rocket engine components. (ASRI in 2022 succeeded the Aerospace Systems Research Group – ASReG that was established in 2009.)
ASRI’s Director, Professor Michael Brooks, described the collaboration as an important step in broadening aerospace engineering research and development collaboration between South Africa and the United Kingdom.
“We’re delighted to begin this joint R&D programme with the University of Glasgow,” said Brooks. “Developing rocket technologies, and the ground systems to support commercial launch, is complex and time-consuming, and there are advantages to pooling resources and working with institutions that have similar ambitions. ASRI will be working closely with University of Glasgow engineers to solve some of the challenges facing the aerospace industry in the area of metal 3D printing.”
The Space and Exploration Technology Group’s leader, Professor Patrick Harkness, said, “There are striking similarities between the development journeys at the University of Glasgow and at UKZN. We encountered many of the same issues as we set up our capabilities, and we have found that we chose to advance in broadly the same way in the past. That is why we are excited to be working together now, and as our ambitions grow and we move towards space, we will be tackling the next set of challenges together.”
Aidan Darker, Head of the Africa Science and Innovation Network at the UK High Commission in Pretoria, added that, “The UK government is delighted to support this project, further strengthening the SA-UK science and research relationship in this key area of mutual interest. We hope this will lead to further collaboration between the UK and SA in the space sector and the transfer of expertise between our two countries.”
Both institutions have experience in designing, building and testing rocket propulsion systems. ASRI develops hybrid rockets and liquid propellant engines, as well as on-orbit satellite thrusters. The institute’s research activities are funded by the South African Department of Science, Technology and Innovation (DSTI).
ASRI currently holds the African altitude record for hybrid rockets, set in 2021, and is developing the SAFFIRE (South African First Integrated Rocket Engine) liquid propellant rocket engine to power an indigenous satellite launch vehicle.
University of Glasgow researchers have an active propulsion engineering programme that includes a vibrant student rocketry society. Among its various activities, the university is currently developing a cryogenic bipropellant rocket ground test facility at Machrihanish in Scotland.
In March 2021, the UKZN successfully launched the Phoenix-1B Mark IIr sounding rocket. It travelled 17.9 km into the air, achieving a new African hybrid rocket altitude record. This was the third rocket variant to be developed by the UKZN. The first, the Phoenix-1A, was flight tested in 2014, but experienced a nozzle failure that limited its altitude. The second launch, in 2019, of the Phoenix-1B Mark II, was unsuccessful because of a software fault, and it exploded on launch. ASRI successfully launched another two Phoenix rockets in 2023.
Sounding rockets carry experimental payloads to the upper reaches of the atmosphere or into space. They play a crucial role in facilitating experiments in a wide variety of scientific disciplines, including biotechnology, astronomy, astrophysics, materials science and meteorology.
The Phoenix hybrid rockets were developed as a technology demonstration platform from which a future commercial sounding rocket programme can be developed.
The programme, a human capital development initiative, started in 2010, has produced a number of graduates with advanced engineering skills, and who have been absorbed into South Africa’s engineering sector with entities including Rheinmetall Denel Munition, SANSA, the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and Armscor. Human capital development is the main objective of the programme, together with developing indigenous space propulsion technologies, the Department of Science and Innovation said.
ASRI recently unveiled its new suborbital sounding rocket launch facility at the Denel Overberg Test Range (OTR) in the Western Cape. According to the UKZN, the gantry will be used to launch suborbital rockets designed by ASRI, such as the Phoenix, but it is also capable of supporting larger solid-propellant rockets used by agencies like Nasa and the European Space Agency (ESA). The six-storey launch gantry, with a state-of-the-art aiming and control system, can rotate 360 degrees horizontally and can be lowered into a horizontal position to facilitate the loading of rockets, fuelling, and fitting ground support systems before launch.
Additionally, in late October, the research group acquired its first paying customer, MaxIQ Space, a leader in space-focused STEM education. MaxIQ Space will utilise ASRI’s Phoenix hybrid rocket to launch a 1U CubeSat for educational purposes.
