Curie is a
liquid-propellant rocket engine
A rocket engine uses stored rocket propellants as the reaction mass for forming a high-speed propulsive jet of fluid, usually high-temperature gas. Rocket engines are reaction engines, producing thrust by ejecting mass rearward, in accorda ...
designed and manufactured by
Rocket Lab
Rocket Lab is a public American aerospace manufacturer and launch service provider, with a New Zealand subsidiary. The company operates lightweight Electron orbital rockets, which provide dedicated launches for small satellites. Rocket Lab also ...
. A
monopropellant
Monopropellants are propellants consisting of chemicals that release energy through exothermic chemical decomposition. The molecular bond energy of the monopropellant is released usually through use of a catalyst. This can be contrasted with bipro ...
is used for the propulsion of the third stage/kicker stage of the
Electron
The electron ( or ) is a subatomic particle with a negative one elementary electric charge. Electrons belong to the first generation of the lepton particle family,
and are generally thought to be elementary particles because they have n ...
rocket, as well as the
Photon
A photon () is an elementary particle that is a quantum of the electromagnetic field, including electromagnetic radiation such as light and radio waves, and the force carrier for the electromagnetic force. Photons are massless, so they alwa ...
.
The composition of the propellant is a trade secret.
The kicker stage rocket produces of thrust, and has a
specific impulse
Specific impulse (usually abbreviated ) is a measure of how efficiently a reaction mass engine (a rocket using propellant or a jet engine using fuel) creates thrust. For engines whose reaction mass is only the fuel they carry, specific impulse is ...
of approximately 320 seconds.
It was first used on 21 January 2018 during Rocket Lab's first successful orbital rocket launch, and helped to boost two small
CubeSats
A CubeSat is a class of miniaturized satellite based around a form factor consisting of cubes. CubeSats have a mass of no more than per unit, and often use commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components for their electronics and structure. CubeSat ...
, the weather and ship-tracking Lemur-2 CubeSats built by the company
Spire Global
Spire Global, Inc. is a space-to-cloud data and analytics company that specializes in the tracking of global data sets powered by a large constellation of nanosatellites, such as the tracking of maritime, aviation and weather patterns.
The comp ...
, into a circular orbit.
Description
The Curie engine, named after
Polish scientist
Marie Skłodowska–Curie, is a small liquid-propellant rocket engine designed to release "small satellites from the constricting parameters of primary payload orbits and enables them to fully reach their potential, including faster deployment of small satellite constellations and better positioning for Earth imaging".
It is 3D printed.
Monopropellant version
The Electron third stage, which is powered by Curie, is equipped with its own reaction control system, avionics, power, and communication systems.
During the first flight in January 2018 where Curie was tested, the Electron
third stage
''Third Stage'' is the third studio album by the American rock band Boston, released on September 26, 1986, on MCA Records. It was recorded at Boston co-founder Tom Scholz's Hideaway Studio over a long, strained, six-year period "between floods ...
—also referred to as the "kick stage"—coasted for roughly 40 minutes after successfully deploying an Earth-imaging Dove satellite built by the company
Planet Labs
Planet Labs PBC (formerly Planet Labs, Inc. and Cosmogia, Inc.) is an American public Earth imaging company based in San Francisco, California. Their goal is to image the entirety of the Earth daily to monitor changes and pinpoint trends.
The c ...
, then ignited the Curie engine on its first in-space test.
After this test, the stage was left in orbit. However, Rocket Lab stated that future launches would have the stage deorbited after releasing their payloads to prevent addition to
space debris
Space debris (also known as space junk, space pollution, space waste, space trash, or space garbage) are defunct human-made objects in space—principally in Earth orbit—which no longer serve a useful function. These include derelict spacec ...
.
While Rocket Lab is not known to have specified the
monopropellant
Monopropellants are propellants consisting of chemicals that release energy through exothermic chemical decomposition. The molecular bond energy of the monopropellant is released usually through use of a catalyst. This can be contrasted with bipro ...
used by Curie, in 2012 Rocket Lab demonstrated the use of a non-toxic
Viscous Liquid Monopropellant (VLM) that it had developed.
Bi-propellant version
In August 2020 Rocket Lab indicated that the kick stage uses an unspecified liquid
bi-propellant fuel for the Curie engine.
HyperCurie
Rocket Lab has also developed a version of the Curie engine with more thrust called HyperCurie.
The engine was used on the
CAPSTONE lunar mission that launched in June 2022.
See also
*
Rutherford (rocket engine)
Rutherford is a liquid-propellant rocket engine designed by aerospace company Rocket Lab and manufactured in Long Beach, California. The engine is used on the company's own rocket, Electron. It uses LOX (liquid oxygen) and RP-1 (refined kerose ...
*
Archimedes (rocket engine)
References
{{Rocket Lab
Monopropellant rocket engines
Curie
In computing, a CURIE (or ''Compact URI'') defines a generic, abbreviated syntax for expressing Uniform Resource Identifiers (URIs). It is an abbreviated URI expressed in a compact syntax, and may be found in both XML and non-XML grammars. A CURI ...