Self-Eating Rocket Prototype Successfully Tested, Paving Way for Cheaper Small Satellite Launches

The University of Glasgow's Ouroborous-3 rocket could revolutionize space travel by using its own structure as fuel, reducing launch costs and leaving no debris behind.

• Researchers at the University of Glasgow have tested a prototype self-eating rocket, Ouroborous-3, that could make launches of small satellites cheaper and leave no debris behind.
• The rocket burns gaseous oxygen and liquid propane in its engine, and as the engine heats up, it melts the rocket's supporting structure made of a plastic tube and burns it too, gaining an additional 5 to 16 percent of fuel.
• The self-eating technology could enable the creation of very small rockets tailored for the smallest satellites, which currently have to piggyback on much larger missions.
• The researchers demonstrated that the rocket can be throttled, reignited and pulsed, producing 100 newtons of thrust.
• The team is now working on a larger-scale prototype that could provide about 1000 newtons of thrust, with a suborbital test flight potentially as soon as 2027.

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