Rotating Detonation Rocket Engine: NASA’s Revolutionary Propulsion Design for Deep Space Missions

As

data-gt-translate-attributes”[{” attribute=””>NASA takes its first steps toward establishing a long-term presence on the Moon’s surface, a team of propulsion development engineers at NASA have developed and tested NASA’s first full-scale rotating detonation rocket engine, or RDRE, an advanced rocket engine design that could significantly change how future propulsion systems are built.

The RDRE differs from a traditional rocket engine by generating thrust using a supersonic combustion phenomenon known as a detonation. This design produces more power while using less fuel than today’s propulsion systems and has the potential to power both human landers and interplanetary vehicles to deep space destinations, such as the Moon and

Engineers at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama and primary space sponsor LLC, located in West Lafayette, Indiana, confirm data from the RDRE hot-fire test held in 2022 at the Marshall Test Area. The machine was fired a dozen times, totaling about 10 minutes in duration.

RDRE has achieved its first test objective, demonstrating that its hardware – made from new additive manufacturing, or 3D printing, designs and processes – can work for a long time while withstanding the extreme heat and pressure environments generated by detonations. When operating at full throttle, the RDRE produced over 4,000 pounds of thrust per minute at an average chamber pressure of 622 pounds per square inch, the highest pressure rating for this design.

Revolution detonation rocket engine, or RDRE hot fire test at the Marshall Space Flight Center. Credit: NASA

RDRE incorporates NASA-developed air-

data-gt-translate-attributes”[{” attribute=””>alloy GRCop-42 with the powder bed fusion additive manufacturing process, allowing the engine to operate under extreme conditions for longer durations without overheating.

Additional milestones achieved during the test include the successful performance of both deep throttling and internal ignition. This successful demonstration brings the technology closer to being used with future flight vehicles, enabling NASA and commercial space to move more payload and mass to deep space destinations, an essential component to making space exploration more sustainable. Because of NASA’s recent success with the RDRE, follow-on work is being conducted by NASA engineers to develop a fully reusable 10,000-pound class RDRE to identify performance benefits over traditional liquid rocket engines.

Thrust propulsion testing and characterization of the University of Central Florida rotating detonation rocket engine is shown in this photo. NASA provided funding for a UCF project focused on rotating detonation rocket engines, which use high-energy explosions to produce more energy with less fuel, improving engine efficiency and cutting down space travel costs and emissions. Credit: UCF

RDRE is managed and funded by the Game Changing Development Program in NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate.