The gel fuel is a kind of “solid–liquid” state fluid and it combines the advantages of solid fuel and liquid fuel. In the attitude and orbit control of satellites, the gel fuel can simultaneously possess considerable thrust, restartable ability and high safety. In order to explore the engineering application prospect of gel fuel a prototype of gel rocket was designed. The organic kerosene gel was prepared and atomized by a swirl injector. The ignition experiment of gel rocket motor was carried out. The results indicate that the kerosene gel has superior atomization effect after swirling. It can be ignited reliably by ordinary spark plug in oxygen environment and the motor can work properly. Gel rocket motor effectively avoids the risk of leakage and misfire compared with kerosene. Two types of fuels operate similarly in the engine under the same supply pressure. Gelatinization of kerosene has little effect on motor performance. The pressure of combustion chamber decreases with the increase of equivalence ratio when the mass flow rate of gel keeps constant. When the equivalence ratio keeps constant, the pressure of combustion chamber increases with the increase of gel mass flow rate.