By Ramon J. Osorio, NASAs Marshall Space Flight Center December 26, 2023Engineers at NASAs Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, conduct a successful, 251-second hot fire test of a full-scale Rotating Detonation Rocket Engine combustor in fall 2023, achieving more than 5,800 pounds of thrust. Engineers at NASAs Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, effectively tested an unique, 3D-printed RDRE for 251 seconds (or longer than four minutes), producing more than 5,800 pounds of thrust.That kind of continual burn replicates common requirements for a lander touchdown or a deep-space burn that might set a spacecraft on course from the Moon to Mars, stated Marshall combustion devices engineer Thomas Teasley, who leads the RDRE test effort at the center.RDREs very first hot fire test was carried out at Marshall in the summer of 2022 in collaboration with In Space LLC and Purdue University, both of Lafayette, Indiana.”Engineers at NASAs Glenn Research Center in Cleveland and researchers at Venus Aerospace of Houston, Texas, are working with NASA Marshall to recognize how to scale the technology for greater performance.RDRE is managed and funded by the Game Changing Development Program within NASAs Space Technology Mission Directorate.
