Prometheus GSE — Zixian Zhang

1.0

Objective

Prometheus is an N₂O–HTPB hybrid. I designed P&IDs and structural drawings for its ground support equipment, and fabricated and integrated the fill-table hardware that routes oxidizer from pressurized storage into the rocket's feed system.

2.0

Hardware

Charged or flowing line, lit from its inletBimba cylinders turn the remote valvesRelief valve: opens if a trapped volume over-pressurisesA fill table is a row of valves that moves oxidizer from storage into the vehicle under control, with relief and vent paths that make every trapped volume safe. The order follows Jason Zhang's P&ID for Prometheus, the N₂O–HTPB hybrid of UCLA's AIAA Rocket Project: bottle, hand valve, hose, filter, check valve, fill valve, the gauge and purge tee, the relief and dump tee, the quick-disconnect, then the vehicle and its vent. Fill, purge, dump and vent are turned by Bimba cylinders from a solenoid manifold on its own N₂ bottle. Pressures here are shares of the N₂O bottle's pressure from a simple flow model, not test data. The system passed low- and high-pressure qualification on 2 February 2026, after the first low-pressure test burst a hard line at an incompletely sealed fitting and an EGSE voltage-management error burned out a thermocouple; both were repaired in three days.

3.0

Work performed

3.1Designed piping and instrumentation diagrams and structural drawings for the GSE.
3.2Fabricated and integrated fill-table hardware routing N₂O from pressurized storage into the feed system.
3.3Passed low- and high-pressure qualification on February 2, 2026, ahead of the February 7 hot fire.

4.0

Specification

Vehicle	Prometheus hybrid rocket
System	Fill table: storage tanks to feed system
Deliverables	P&IDs · structural blueprints · fabricated hardware
Milestone	LP/HP qualification 2026-02-02

5.0

Plates

Rocket Project members around two gas bottles with regulators, a braided line running to a fill table covered in valves and fittings, wrenches laid out beside it. — Pl. 1Night test session: the team rigs the supply bottles and their regulators (back) to the fill table (front), with its stainless lines, valves and pressure gauge.

Students in a rocket lab standing behind a fill table of stainless tubing, valves and a pressure gauge. — Pl. 2Rocket Project members eat pizza behind the GSE fill table; its stainless tubing, actuated valves and a pressure gauge fill the foreground, with rocket airframes hung from the ceiling.

Piping and instrumentation diagram of the nitrous oxide fill system, drawn in colored lines on a black background. — Pl. 3Fill-system P&ID: N2O runs through a manual valve, filter, check valve and pneumatically actuated fill valve to the quick-disconnect and rocket, with N2 purge, pneumatics, dump and vent lines and a symbol key.

Close-up of a stainless compression tee fitting on an aluminum plate, with a finger pointing at it. — Pl. 4A finger points to a stainless-steel tee fitting on the fill table's aluminum plate.

Rocket fill-table hardware on a white folding table at night, wrenches lined up next to it. — Pl. 5The fill table laid out on a folding table in a parking lot at night, with a row of wrenches beside it.

6.0

Anomaly report

Closed

Observed: During the first low-pressure test a hard line ruptured, and a thermocouple burned out.
Root cause: Incomplete sealing at a fitting. Separately, a voltage-management error on the EGSE side.
Corrective action: The team worked through a weekend, repaired both systems within three days, and passed LP and HP qualification on Feb 2.
Lesson: Most of the team were first- and second-years. Clear procedures matter more than experience.