UL and IMR to design Eire’s first 3D-printed liquid rocket engine

The partnership information comes with official acceptance into the celebrated UK-based Race2Space 2026 Worldwide Propulsion competitors.

The College of Limerick (UL) Aeronautical Society Excessive-Powered Rocketry Workforce (ULAS HiPR) has introduced a partnership with UL and Irish Manufacturing Analysis (IMR) to design and produce the primary additive manufactured (3D-printed) liquid rocket engine within the Republic of Eire, referred to as the Lúin of Celtchar.

The engine is a high-performance 2 kilonewton, water-cooled, IPA/nitrous oxide bi-propellant system, which has been designed solely by the ULAS HiPR pupil group and is now being manufactured at IMR’s Superior Manufacturing Lab in Mullingar utilizing metallic additive manufacturing. It will likely be returned to UL for precision machining and meeting. 

Established in 2022, ULAS HiPR has greater than 100 members and is a mixture of scholars from a spread of disciplines, resembling aeronautical, mechanical, software program and design engineering – all of whom have an curiosity in designing, manufacturing and launching highly effective rockets. 

The group has loved some success having represented Eire internationally at prestigious competitions, together with Mach-24 and Euroc, the European Rocketry Problem. Alongside the announcement of the partnership, ULAS HiPR has additionally formally been accepted into the UK-based Race2Space 2026 Worldwide Propulsion competitors.

That is, in keeping with ULAS HiPR, “a serious milestone in advancing Irish student-led area propulsion capabilities”.

Talking on the announcement, Jay Looney, the co-head of ULAS HiPR, mentioned: “The acceptance of our challenge to Race2Space marks a defining second not just for ULAS HiPR, however for Eire’s pupil area neighborhood. 

“The collection of the primary additively manufactured liquid rocket engine within the Republic of Eire into the competitors validates the technical ambition of our pupil group, and the power of collaboration between Irish college college students with trade. It demonstrates that world-class propulsion innovation can now be designed, manufactured and examined solely right here in Eire.”

Mark Hartnett, a design for manufacturing senior technologist at IMR, added: “At IMR, supporting formidable pupil groups like ULAS HiPR displays our dedication to strengthening Eire’s superior manufacturing ecosystem and enabling the subsequent technology of aerospace innovators. 

“These are important platforms for advancing cutting-edge applied sciences and constructing Eire’s future engineering functionality, and this ULAS HiPR propulsion challenge demonstrates how rising applied sciences can transfer quickly from idea to high-performance {hardware}.”

In late February, Silicon Republic attended the official launch of Eire’s first European House Company Phi-Lab, which is headquartered at IMR in Mullingar and run in collaboration with the AMBER Centre at Trinity Faculty Dublin.

Considered one of 10 European Phi-Labs, it’s designed to be Eire’s nationwide platform for area know-how improvement and to anchor the nation’s ambitions inside Europe and the world’s rapidly-expanding area financial system.

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