ARCA's revolutionary aerospike engine completed and ready for testing

ARCA's revolutionary aerospike engine completed and ready for testing

 '' ARCA Space Corporation has announced its linear aerospike engine is ready to start ground tests as the company moves towards installing the engine in its Demonstrator 3 rocket. Designed to power the world's first operational Single-Stage-To-Orbit (SSTO) satellite launcher, the engine took only 60 days to complete from when fabrication began. 



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The aerospike engine is different because it basically works by cutting a rocket engine's bell, which directs the exhaust of a rocket engine in one direction, in half, then placing the two halves back to back to form a tapering spike. This means the air itself acts as the missing half of the rocket bell, containing the hot gases as they leave the combustion chamber. ''