Tsiolkovsky-1
NKUA's first student rocketry team designed, built, and static-fired a solid-propellant motor entirely in-house.
A rocketry team, and a motor, from zero
I founded DeltaV Dynamics in October 2023 — the first experimental student rocketry team at the National & Kapodistrian University of Athens — to create the hands-on opportunities that didn't exist, and to establish a lasting student rocketry presence in Greece.
The first hard milestone: design, build, and demonstrate a real solid-propellant rocket motor — something only a handful of Greek universities have ever done.
Choosing safety over peak performance
We selected a potassium nitrate / sorbitol (KNO₃–sorbitol) propellant — a deliberate choice. Its high ignition temperature gives a large safety margin during cooking and casting, and it is far more handling-friendly than higher-energy alternatives, trading slightly lower performance for safe, repeatable manufacturing.
Sealing was equally conservative: an aluminium-and-steel casing with two O-rings at each end, redundant against any gas escape.
This safety-first propellant philosophy reflects a broader industry principle — non-toxic propellants chosen for handling safety and operational simplicity, trading slightly lower performance for safe, repeatable manufacturing.
Propellant casting in 8 frames
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11Parachute testing
Before the static fire, the team conducted drop tests of the recovery parachute system — verifying deployment reliability, descent rate, and structural integrity of the canopy and shroud lines under load.
A reliable recovery system is a prerequisite for any flight campaign: without a demonstrated ability to return the motor safely, no launch approval is possible.
Design, cook, cast — then a failed first fire
We took the motor through the full chain in-house: design, propellant mixing, curing, and casting, assembly, and instrumentation.
First static fire — partial failure. The grain burned slowly. The root cause: the ignitor was floating loose in the cylindrical grain core instead of being secured against the inner grain surface — a setup error missed during pre-fire checks.
The fix: a thinner ignitor, carefully attached to the inner grain surface for reliable core ignition. Two days later, I regathered the team, reset the test, and fired again.
A clean second fire
The second test fired cleanly — a fast, sustained expulsion of hot gas confirmed the ignitor fix and a nominal burn.
A first for NKUA, and an achievement only a handful of Greek universities have reached.
Tsiolkovsky-1
Primary Components
Close-up
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23Thrust curve
Progressive grain geometry drives thrust from 76 N to a peak of 335 N over a 1.38-second burn.
Grain mass depletion
209 g of KNO₃–sorbitol consumed in 1.38 s. Mass drains progressively, accelerating through the final quarter.
The Future of DeltaV Dynamics
The show must go on. Therefore a higher performance version of Tsiolkovsky-1 is underway, aiming to produce 5 times the thrust of its predeccesor.
New members are being trained and taking responsibility of high-risk parts of the project, continuing the initial goal of this team.
