BLOODHOUND SSC’s rocket man, Daniel Jubb, reports that the 15.2cm (6-inch) diameter rocket engine was successfully fired on 31st May 2009 at the testing site in the Mojave desert. This is the development version of the rocket that will be installed into BLOODHHOUND SSC. The full-sized rocket will be 45.7cm (18-inches) – three times the diameter of the development version!

The duration of the firing was 12 seconds. Rapid ignition (under 1 second) was achieved. The chamber was throttled over a 6:1 ratio and combustion was smooth at all settings.

The images below show the four most recent firings of the 6-inch hybrid chamber. Firing 007 and 008 were used to test new fuel grain configurations. Firing 008 suffered a chamber failure, the hot gas burned through the chamber around the catalyst pack/fuel grain interface. Firing 009 tested improved thermal insulation around the catalyst pack/fuel grain interface and the post combustion chamber. Firing 010 was the longest duration 6-inch firing to date (lasting 12 seconds) where experiments were conducted to establish if the chamber could be throttled.