China’s Helium Breakthrough Could Boost Rocket Thrust by 300% – Inspired by a Boeing Failure

Chinese researchers have reportedly made an unusual breakthrough inspired by issues that Boeing had with the Starliner spacecraft.

The researchers found that helium had the potential to reduce exhaust temperatures but also enhance efficiency and possibly thrust in the process. Helium issues have left NASA astronauts stranded on the ISS after leakage from the Starliner spacecraft. This is allegedly what inspired the NASA idea.

China’s Game-Changing Rocket Breakthrough Was Inspired by NASA’s Starliner Issues

Helium has long been used to pressurise fuel systems, but Harbin Engineering University has furthered the technology, finding a way to inject helium into solid-fuel rocket motors.

They found the method could triple the thrust of rockets while keeping the temperature down.

Helium has long been a crucial element in space exploration and could play an even bigger part in the future. As a rocket consumes fuel like oxygen, helium is added to maintain tank pressure and also to keep the rocket’s structural integrity. Helium remains a liquid at temperatures where other elements freeze, and is also both light and non-flammable. It is perfect for multiple uses. If you have seen the huge clouds of gas from rockets on launch pads, the chances are you were looking at helium reaching its boiling off temperature.

The theoretical fusion rockets that may be a part of the future of space exploration may also rely on helium. Helium-3 propulsion is theoretically possible and would use helium-3 atoms, which could be fused with deuterium to create a release of energy suitable for propulsion.

A NASA study on fusion power as early as the 1980s concluded that: “He-3 offers significant, possibly compelling, advantages over fusion of tritium, principally increased reactor life, reduced radioactive wastes, and high efficiency conversion.” Helium-3’s prevalence on the lunar surface is another reason why it is considered to be a hugely important substance.

China’s New Helium Breakthrough

China’s new solution focuses on the ultralight gas expanding rapidly when injected into a rocket’s combustion chamber. Controlling it precisely and adding the right level increased the impulse efficiency by 5.77% and found the rocket engine could receive 300% more thrust. The exhaust temperature was rapidly reduced which also made the plume harder to detect.

The research team was led by aerospace researcher Yang Zenan and published their study in Acta Aeronautica et Astronautica Sinica this month after being tested on a computer simulation.

Many modern rocket missile defense systems like SpaceX’s Starshield, rely on hot rocket plumes and helium could provide an alternative, enhancing the lifespan of some of these rockets.

The capability to adjust thrust on demand from 100% to 313% could also allow missiles more flexibility in changes of speed and make them harder to intercept.

There are other potential applications, too. Rockets could become more cost-effective as a result, which is likely to appeal to multiple militaries and make rockets a more viable option.