Building a Better Rocket with the Help of Piezoelectric Sensors

Airplane turbines and rocket engines are very powerful, hot and noisy and yet in need of extremely sensitive measurement technology. And they have another thing in common: They are most efficient when they run on a constant and even flame. Specialized measurement technology helps aerospace engineers improve combustion chambers and fuel injectors. In Switzerland, two ambitious student organizations have been using iterative pressure measurements to develop and build a significantly more efficient next generation of rocket engines.