UCF Researchers Develop Rotating Detonation Rocket Engine With U.S.Air Force Funding

"A team of University of Central Florida (UCF) researchers developed an advanced
new rocket-propulsion system, known as a rotating detonation rocket engine (RDRE),
with funding from the U.S. Air Force (USAF).

The rotating detonation rocket engine, which was once thought to be impossible to
develop, will allow upper stage rockets for space missions to become lighter,
travel farther, and burn more cleanly. According to a UCF statement, the study was
supported with funding from the U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research
(AFOSR) and an Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) contract.

“The study presents, for the first time, experimental evidence of a safe and
functioning hydrogen and oxygen propellant detonation in a rotating detonation
rocket engine,� says Kareem Ahmed, an assistant professor in UCF’s Department of
Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering who led the research."

See:

https://defpost.com/ucf-researchers-...force-funding/



So, will this be a game-changer? Or just another incremental advance?




Note: Not to be confused with Roton:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotary_Rocket

In article ,
says...

"A team of University of Central Florida (UCF) researchers developed an advanced
new rocket-propulsion system, known as a rotating detonation rocket engine (RDRE),
with funding from the U.S. Air Force (USAF).

The rotating detonation rocket engine, which was once thought to be impossible to
develop, will allow upper stage rockets for space missions to become lighter,
travel farther, and burn more cleanly. According to a UCF statement, the study was
supported with funding from the U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research
(AFOSR) and an Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) contract.

?The study presents, for the first time, experimental evidence of a safe and
functioning hydrogen and oxygen propellant detonation in a rotating detonation
rocket engine,? says Kareem Ahmed, an assistant professor in UCF?s Department of
Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering who led the research."

See:

https://defpost.com/ucf-researchers-...force-funding/



So, will this be a game-changer? Or just another incremental advance?

Lab experiments don't necessarily scale up well. Look at the long,
hard, history of F-1 engine development. So I'd take this announcement
with a medium sized grain of salt.

Jeff
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