NASA has validated the design of a next-generation rocket engine that could power humanity’s next phase of deep space exploration. Last year at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, engineers conducted a hot fire test of the first full-scale rotating detonation rocket engine (RDRE). This technology could provide high thrust at much greater efficiency compared with today’s rocket engines.
The RDRE prototype wasn’t mounted to a rocket — it was attached to a stationary test stand to precisely measure its performance characteristics. The team fired the engine over a dozen times, totaling almost 10 minutes of active thrust. Rotating detonation engines are so-named because they produce thrust via a supersonic combustion phenomenon known as detonation. The detonation waves travel around a circular chamber, squeezing out more power from the fuel, but they put the engine under incredible stress.
NASA believes that RDRE propulsion could be the ideal technology to get crewed and uncrewed missions to distant destinations like Mars, and it could become an integral part of NASA’s plan for a long-term human presence on the moon. That depends on the success of the Artemis Program, which got underway just recently with the launch of the agency’s first Space Launch System (SLS) rocket. That behemoth is currently the most powerful rocket in the world, but RDRE could make its aging RS-25 Space Shuttle engines look even more dated.
The RDRE prototype was constructed with 3D printing technology, so NASA was interested to see how it held up under sustained firing. Confirming that the engine was stable and able to provide consistent thrust was the core goal of the test, and it passed with flying colors. The RDRE produced over 4,000 pounds of thrust for stretches as long as a minute, with an average chamber pressure of 622 pounds per square inch. That’s a record for RDRE designs. This is thanks in part to the use of a NASA-developed copper alloy known as GRCop-42. This allows the engine to operate under extreme conditions for extended periods without overheating.
NASA and its commercial partner, IN Space LLC, are now planning the construction of a larger prototype that will push the thrust to 10,000 pounds. That’s getting into the range of mid-sized rocket engines, but far short of the RS-25 (over 400,000 LBF) or SpaceX Merlin (about 200,000 LBF), both measured at sea level. NASA expects the larger RDRE will help it better understand how this technology can safely outperform traditional liquid rocket engines.
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