Projects
Puff — First Welsh Liquid Bipropellant Rocket Engine
Developed by SwanSEDS during 2024–2025, Puff became the first Welsh-designed and built liquid bipropellant rocket engine to complete a successful hot-fire test.
Key Details
- Project: Puff
- Team: SwanSEDS, Swansea University
- Period: 2024–2025
- Milestone: First Welsh-designed and built liquid bipropellant rocket engine to hot-fire
- Design thrust: 2 kN
- Achieved thrust: Up to 1.2 kN
- Longest sustained burn: 5 seconds
- Testing: Successful cold-flow campaign followed by multiple hot-fire tests
Overview
Puff was designed and manufactured by SwanSEDS, the Swansea University student rocketry team. After a successful cold-flow test at Race 2 Space, the team worked to secure a full hot-fire opportunity for the completed engine.
Test Campaign
Working with Snowdonia Space Centre and Newton Launch Systems, SwanSEDS carried out multiple successful hot-fire tests. Puff reached up to 1.2 kN of thrust, with the longest sustained firing lasting five seconds.
Results and Validation
Feed-pressure limits prevented Puff from reaching its 2 kN design thrust during this campaign. Even so, the test data showed that the engine performed as expected for the available operating conditions. The results indicate that operation at full feed pressure should support higher thrust and burns lasting ten seconds or longer.
Project Significance
The successful campaign made Puff the first Welsh-designed and built liquid bipropellant rocket engine to hot-fire. It also produced a substantial dataset for validating the engine and informing future SwanSEDS liquid-propulsion development.