Prototype rocket engine burns itself up for fuel as it flies

After a rocket uses up its fuel, the tank generally just becomes dead weight, but a prototype rocket that burns its own fuselage as propellant could solve that problem

By Leah Crane

10 January 2024

Testing the prototype of the self-eating rocket engine

Bzdyk et al.

The researchers are presenting their work at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics SciTech Forum in Florida on 10 January. The engine is called the Ouroborous-3, named after the ancient symbol of a snake eating its own tail.