Australian university students have achieved a national first on the global stage after successfully testing a rocket engine built using advanced 3D printing technology.
Nicknamed “Slinky”, the engine was designed and manufactured by students from the University of Melbourne with support from researchers at CSIRO’s Lab22, Australia’s leading additive manufacturing innovation centre.
The breakthrough came through the University of Melbourne Aerospace and Rocket Engineering Society (ARES) Capstone Project, where a three-member student team developed a regeneratively cooled liquid bipropellant rocket engine — a technology normally associated with professional aerospace programmes.
The engine was created by Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering Masters students Jack Gardiner, Brooke Doolan and Stuart Davis, who worked alongside Lab22 engineers to develop a design featuring tiny internal cooling channels built directly into the combustion chamber wall.
Senior CSIRO research scientist Dr Cherry Chen said traditional rocket engines rely on complex external pipe systems for cooling, but 3D printing has enabled engineers to create cooling channels inside the engine itself.
“Now using 3D printing, we can build channels inside the combustion chamber wall, which improve the cooling efficiency.”
The engine was manufactured using a copper alloy selected for its high thermal conductivity and ability to withstand extreme heat conditions. The component was produced at CSIRO’s Lab22 facility in Clayton, Victoria, using a Nikon SLM Solutions 280 2MA laser powder bed fusion system supported by the iLAuNCH Trailblazer programme.
The student team transported Slinky to the United Kingdom to compete at Race2Space, one of the world’s leading student rocketry competitions.
Weighing about 6 kilograms and roughly the size of a large pineapple, the engine completed five successful hot-fire tests in a single day, including throttling demonstrations.
The engine achieved a maximum thrust of 5.4 kilonewtons — comparable to a small lunar lander engine — and won the LOX bipropellant category against an international field of competitors.
Team member Stuart Davis said the achievement demonstrated the potential of combining computational engineering with advanced manufacturing.
“We’re absolutely thrilled to be at the cutting edge of computational engineering and demonstrating the results that its integration can achieve.”
Prof. Richard Sandberg, Chair and Professor of Computational Mechanics at the University of Melbourne, said the project showed how emerging technologies could accelerate engineering innovation.
“This rapid concept-to-test approach will speed up development cycles in engineering, helping to innovate and bring down cost.”
The achievement marks the first time an Australian student team has successfully fired a regeneratively cooled liquid rocket engine at Race2Space.
Dr Chen said the project highlighted the growing capabilities of Australian engineering talent and the role of advanced manufacturing in future aerospace development.
“We are incredibly proud of Jack, Brooke, and Stuart for pushing boundaries and demonstrating what Australian engineering talent can accomplish.”
Brooke Doolan said the success represented a major milestone for ARES Rocketry and could pave the way for more advanced propulsion projects.
“It opens the door to more complex propulsion design and manufacturing, with hopes to integrate Slinky into a future rocket and drive the next generation of propulsion development at the university.”
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