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WHAT IS A 'SELF-EATING' ENGINE?

An autophage engine, known colloquially as a 'self-eating' engine, uses a propellant rod with solid fuel on the outside and an oxidizer on the inside.

This produces thrust as vaporized fuel and the oxidizer flow into the combustion chamber.

That also means it generates enough heat to vaporize the next section of the propellant, keeping the system going.

‘The propellant rod itself would make up the body of the rocket, and as the vehicle climbed the engine would work its way up, consuming the body from base to tip,' explains Dr Patrick Harkness, senior lecturer at the University of Glasgow’s School of Engineering.

‘That would mean that the rocket structure would actually be consumed as fuel, so we wouldn’t face the same problems of excessive structural mass.' 

The technology could make it much easier – and cheaper – to send small satellites known as CubeSats to orbit.

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