The ULAS HiPR student team from the University of Limerick, together with Irish Manufacturing Research, has presented the Lúin of Celtchar, the first liquid rocket engine manufactured with 3D printing in Ireland. The engine generates 2 kN of thrust using isopropyl alcohol and nitrous oxide. The entire process, from design to final assembly, will be carried out within the country. This development consolidates the academia-industry collaboration and will compete in the Race2Space 2026.
Additive manufacturing and national assembly 🛠️
After the design phase, the manufacturing of the engine's critical components is already underway. Metal additive manufacturing is used at IMR facilities. Subsequently, the parts will be sent to the University of Limerick for finishing, integration, and final assembly. This approach keeps the value chain in Ireland and serves as a proof of concept for local technical capability in advanced manufacturing applied to the space sector.
From Limerick to space (or at least trying) 🚀
With this, Ireland joins the club of those trying to send things far from Earth. The student team will now have to deal with the exciting testing phase, where an engine can decide whether it works as expected or prefers to offer an improvised pyrotechnic demonstration. At least, if something goes wrong, they can say the problem was made locally, a detail that always brings a certain patriotic pride, even among smoking remains.