NASA’s 3D-printed Rotating Detonation Rocket Engine Test
2023 ж. 19 Жел.
1 230 043 Рет қаралды
Test stand video captured at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, shows ignition of a full-scale Rotating Detonation Rocket Engine combustor, which was fired for a record 251 seconds and achieved more than 5,800 pounds of thrust.
The most fascinating thing about these kinds of tests is that, when it seems that they're about to break, the engineers just push it more and the engine delivers. Fascinating.
wait, they were about to break the engineers? I knew it
@@tigerchills2079 lmao thanks, I can't write
@@stinkylittlerascalthis is a sad thing to say. Remember a civilian teacher died in one of those jokes you're making. She didn't sign up for that.
@@stinkylittlerascal> Yeah, but it wasn't the engineers that caused those issues, it was the politicians and management indulging in go - go - fever that overruled the engineers objections that bought disaster.
@@stinkylittlerascal Well aren't you just the cutest little troll eh?💝oh yes you are yes you are, just look at those chubby little cheekies🥰 Still, I've got some time to fill, so let's see what entertainment we can get from you.. Now tell me oh wise one: • What is your understanding of how budgets work on a project like the space shuttle? Who do you think sets the initial budget _(spoiler: the magical fairy who knows exactly to the penny it'll cost to develop something that's never been done before and no one knows if it's even possible? it's a figment of your imagination),_ is it always sufficient? How about the R&D process, does every idea work first time? How about feature creep, shifting goalposts, fluctuating raw material prices, inflation? • When you say the shuttle program was a _"waste of billions of dollars",_ what's your definition of 'waste'? Should they have not done it in the first place and spent the money on something else, and if so what? Or do you think the vehicles could have been produced with significantly higher levels of quality and safety than they already have, for 90% less money than they cost to develop - and how would that work? • What do you believe the motivation is for thousands of men and women to earn multiple degrees, gain endless trade certifications, dedicate years of their lives to becoming the best engineers they can possibly be, just to even be considered for a position with the most prestigious engineering institution on the planet - then show up for work like _"Oi lads, I've got a brilliant idea right.. now hear me out... let's all spend the next decade of our lives to design and build something that's absolutely shit and doesn't even work? In fact fcuk it, let's go for gold and make it so it just randomly explodes and kills everyone once in a while!! Waheyy!!"_ What would their reason to do that be, according to you? I excitedly await for you to educate me with your vast intellect!! xcx
It looks like something out of fiction, that blue perfect glowing circle. But the sound is so violent, it strikes me as such a fitting juxtaposition between the elegant fantasy of space and the brutal reality of what space travel actually demands.
Honestly probably something they will work out untill they find a bigger badder engine to play with! , but to be fair a lot of scenes especially in sci-fi is engines starting and being shown to be extremely powerful, i mean thats the whole point to Casually have that much energy on hand? its insane. ide assume this engine at this stage may become unstable while having to deal with exiting the atmosphere but i mean if we did have a space station or moon station to fling spaceships from this is def top of the line and a go to technology. But yeah that could seriously be on the back of an Aethersprite from Star wars or the Enterprise, it honestly feels like one of the cooler more substantial technologies we have made in the last 10 years! i mean an increase of 20+ % on Any modern engine design is just Huge! hopefully their scaling it up (or down) goes well ^_^
@@artsystarmaiden I had to google aethersprite, I swear I've never heard anyone call a Delta-7 that, in any case looks to me more like an N-1 engine, or something on the Naboo yachts considering the aerospike.
@@artsystarmaidenlook at spacexs raptor. The diamonds in the plume look like ray gun tech😂and they keep making them more and more powerful
In space, no one can hear the rocket engine scream.
Incredible! I cant even imagine how much work has been done to achieve this kind of progress. Bravo to all the brilliant engineers!
Anyone know just how much better these are (Specific Impulse) compared to other rocket engines? Can these exceed the current record holder...I believe is 542 seconds for a tri-propellant engine?
@@michelem.6104 not sure about specific impulse but I’ve heard detonation is 20-25% more efficient than deflagration.
High praise from a bot. Why are there so many of these bot accounts that post unnecessary stuff? What is the end game?
@@gabrielsatter Maybe training. End game is money, power or both.
@@gabrielsatterdoesn't look like a bot account to me
Any chance for slow-motion where the detonation movement is visible? Or is that not possible with this assembly?
Someone with a high speed camera should be able to take a peek.
The wave is moving faster than the speed of sound around that cylinder...
If you Google, you'll find other high speed photography of the multiple wave fronts and the problems they encountered, when they were dialing in the motor
@spencercharczuk where are there any engineers in this video? I see nothing.
@@spencercharczuk they are in the block house, nobody is near the test article under hot fire operations
I've seen some comments asking for comparisons to today's engines. Advantages are primarily in scale/form factor. Detonation engines, specifically the RDEs have been found to produce similar performance (thrust and Isp) with as low as 30% smaller engines (I forget if it's by mass or volume, but I think NASA has quoted some nunbers for this before, it's a quanitifiable decrease) than their counterparts with similar propellants and thrust class. Smaller engines = more payload or smaller vehicles or more utilization (landers, orbit adjustment) or ... the list goes on and on. They can work while being smaller because of the nature of the detonations: they move fast, they burn fast, and they burn hot, so combustion can occur "quicker" meaning the engines do not need to be as large to contain and divert the combustion for thrust. RDEs are revolutionary (pun intended) because they are a great step towards making space more accessible!
I want to emphasize "because of the nature of the detonations: they move fast," Specifically the combustion event in an RDE is natively supersonic while conventional engines rely on traditional bell or de laval nozzles to make their subsonic combustion events (deflagration) produce a supersonic flow.
I was under the impression that (one of) the promises of detonation engines was a more efficient thermodynamic cycle. Off the top of my head, the figure was something like a 30% increase in Isp for Ficket-Jacobs cycles vs. Brayton/Humphrey - a paper I read a while back then argued that +5-15% was more realistic when considering nozzle effects. Have these final 5-15% proven to be unrealiseable in recent research? Higher thrust density is of course still a great motivator for further development, but a 5-15% increase in Isp is a monumental prospect
@@BaccaXtreme I’ve seen the 30% number thrown around before both in reference to isp and to more generically in regards to fuel used relative to thrust achieved. Whatever the actual gain, in combination with an aerospike these engines for a second stage booster are probably the future at the least.
It's more than just increased thrust to weight ratio that these engines provide (though that in and of itself would make them worthwhile), it's also their fuel efficiency, that is nearly 50% better than conventional jet engines. Not only is it more powerful and smaller, it also allows for better fuel economy at all scales. It is early days and this is a still in development technology, but if it is used in commercial and space applications it will nearly double the range of current aircraft, with an even better thrust to weight ratio. For space applications, it is literally the holy grail, as the engines can give better thrust at the same size as rocket engines, but require half the propellant to achieve the same range, literally what all engineers dream of.
Nah make em bigger, badder and faster lol.
Glad to see NASA still pushing. I learned about this many years ago, and later several people trying it had stability for only microseconds. This was a full blown test now, amazing!
Nice to hear that from you
Literally, full blown 🤣
Wow, something I've read about good 10 years ago, now being real and tested, good to see progress!
It was actually discovered in the development of the Saturn V rocket in the 60s, but it was more of a flaw that caused random combustion and failure, so they took measures to avoid the reaction, even though they understood the power behind it if it was controlled. Of course, traditional rockets reigned Supreme instead of having to develop a completely new concept for what a rocket engine even is.
@@ryanthompson3737 Not really this technology or phenomenon. "Hard starts" have plagued rocketry since the days of Goddard.
NASA revving while they wait for the traffic light in the background😂
lol
revving while the car behind them melts into scorched sludge
Rotating detonation is definitely a breakthrough technology
Why?
GE (edit) is working on an engine that incorporates a turbofan + a scramjet + a rotating detonation engine. Gives it the ability to go from ground to hypersonic with no gaps in speed. It just transitions from one to the next as speed increases. 0 to Mach 8ish. Working with NASA and DARPA on it. Absolutely insane, but so far it's working. That's going to be a massive leap forward.
@halonothing1 20-30% more efficiency
How do I get the inside gig like that working at KratosDefense currently.
still using fossil fuels though aren't we?
never before have i seen a hyperfixation return like this. welcome back, my younger self
glory to you and your hyperfixation
Outstanding! I love seeing Marshall Space Flight Center innovating and perfecting the state of the art… This type of R&D investment in America’s Space Program is crucial to our future in space! RDE has great potential!
"Our future in space" when we can't even act rationally on the only planet known to sustain life.
Будущее космоса за Россией
Yes in a Russian tank 🤣. Cosmos poydoysh v t-90 dalbayop@@TVALATIN
@@aluisious Wah wah fuck off. If we waited till everyone was educated to a level that prevented them from acting like idiots we'd never have launched a single rocket. There will always be dumbasses, sorry to break your bubble.
@@TVALATINstill stuck with Soyuz after 60 years
I'm always impressed at how much NASA can do with how little money is given to it. Always a pleasure to see the fruits of your labours guys, wishing you a happy new year!
Is it a joke? XD NASA has been extremely inefficient for a long time now, thats why they give contracts to other companies like space X
The ROI from NASA is ridiculously high. They squeeze every single penny for all its worth and man do they get bang for the buck. Next year they begin testing of low sonic boom supersonic flight over land. They say it sounds like a car door closing across the street. If this works, it opens up supersonic flight cross country and around the world again. Not to mention all the random stuff they have to invent to do their projects that they then spin off to companies for other uses. Like the turbopumps that deliver fuel to the space shuttle engines that can empty an olympic swimming poll in minutes... they have been used on fire trucks to deliver massive quantities of water to a fire extremely fast overwhelming large blazes quickly. Or pumps and valves for artificial hearts. Or tempurpedic foam, or a thousand other things we use every day. They have earned a real budget. Plus the thousands of people working all over the country in manufacturing, assembly, testing, R&D, etc.
@@mycroft16 It's hard not to, when NASA employs some of the best and brightest in the world and gives them nearly free reign to do what they do best and then pushes them into insane requirements. All that brain thrust put together of extremely smart and capable individuals, that are also allowed to play with some of the most cutting edge technology and then forced to come up with solutions, will come up with solutions to insane problems, solutions that can later on be segwayed into profitable ventures later down the line. If NASA was allowed to not just patent, but also really own the profits from said patents (not give them to the government), their budget would easily triple if not quadruple and that is from patent returns alone.
$10 of economic benefit per dollar spent on nasa, according to a study some years back.
wait until you know about ISRO budget
A problem faced by rocket engine in 1960 turned into a new engine in 2023....this shows what new technological developments can achieve
From extremely complex and top secret pintel plates to control fuel spray into the combustion chamber to a control system firing the injectors in a rotating pattern ultra fast. Bleeding edge of science in both cases and in both delivering massive power to meet the needs of the day. The might F1 engine and now the RDE.
*Excellent* stuff! Great video! The engine was running beautifully! Steady as a rock! Well done, NASA!
Extremely impressive! Making such an engine run stably for any length of time is a rare feat, and the great success NASA's been having with this program is a sign that maybe the time of rotating detonation engines (with their smaller size and potential higher efficiency than conventional engines, and a natural affinity for lighter aerospike nozzles) has finally come near! Of course, it may be a while before the reliability of lighting them and keeping them running stably is enough to actually use.
that looks like some serious thrust from such small engine, also looks very futuristic hope this will be some breakthrough, applaud to all involved in this incredible innovation
More powerful and longer on action than the previous one, good work
I seen a video of Rotating detonation engine from Scott Manley 3 years back.. So great to see NASA finally perfecting it.. Cant wait to see a Rocket fly with it🚀
I live a few miles away from redstone arsenal where they did this test at. It was insane to hear this thing going off!!! I love being close to the space program and the arsenal so I can experience the sound of history live ❤️
Outstanding! That's a powerful little rocket engine!
Wow that looked incredibly stable. I wonder what that looks like in slow motion/what data was extracted from this!
they've had the data on this style of nozzle for 50+ years, in they're infinite wisdom the us government concluded that the aerospike design wasn't worth pursuing. Apparently 3d printing is making it cheap enough that with the "Space Force" bonus NASA got, they can actually make better exit crafts than in 1969.
@@RedAreshanthis isn’t a normal aerospike this is a rotating pulse detonation engine.
@@Pman353 that phrase can be used to describe literally every combustion engine ever invented
@@RedAreshan no it can’t
You are incorrect @@RedAreshan
Great work, NASA team! We need this engine, so keep up the great work!
Yeah I’ll take two when they drop on Amazon.
@@brkbtjunkie😂
Given that I know just enough engineering and science to know how hard it is to keep that flame roling without any hiccups, this IS impressive adn certainly not that easy! Well done folks!
Incredible! That was so stable!
This looks so cool. Something straight out of sci-fi!
It would be really nice if they would mention what the specific impulse is.
higher, they are 10-25% more efficient in fuel usage, never mind the weight savings.
@@DuelPorpoise Actually I think it might not have been that that great, in theory a RDRE could be more efficient but the point of this test was more about learning how RDREs work and how to make them. as they understand this type of engine better and are able to get them to operate reliably, they will be able to design one that takes advantage to the higher energy produced by Detonation.
@@DuelPorpoise is there weight savings?
@@bahadronurguduru3607 I think they should have a weight reduction of around 30% and a 5-15% higher efficiency. I am not sure wether they have already realized this with this model, but yes, they generally should provide significant weight savings and are naturally more compact
@@michaelwagner8856 The point of this experiment was to reach sustainable steady state burn. They already know pretty much all there is to know about the theory. It been in development for almost 20 yrs.
I love Rotation Detonation engines, well done to all who worked on it!
I will keep an eye on this and I will update my son about progress. We love you. Thank you.
A detonation engine. Absolutely brilliant. To immediately g to a RDE and skipping right over a pulse detonation is fantastic. People dont yet understand the wild applications this kind of engine has and its ability to nearly trivialize hypersonic flight.
The things are indeed a radical technological step ahead of standard subsonic de Laval engines, which are wannabe detonation engines with extra steps (and weight!) lol. With a potential 30% ISP increase, RDE's will indeed change the game, that's just nuts. From my somewhat limited understanding of ISP that can be either a 30% increase in maximum velocity, a 30% increase of max payload, a 30% decrease of time from liftoff to touchdown/orbital insertion at another planet or location in space, and lastly a 30% increase in range for a two-way trip. Correct me if I'm wrong, I may possibly be talking out of my sleep deprived ass😅.
To say that is loud is an understatement
Damn that's impressive. Good work
Congrats! This is a true engineering feat!
Congrats everyone at NASA. Proud of you
Oh man absolutely incredible
Love the sound it make when it fires. What an absolute screamer!
WOW!!! Amazing progress and duration!!!
holy crap it's actually stable
general ass description
@@daveyjoseph6058 ha! general ass trolling.
wow, this is truly just a controlled explosion, like by definition. also works as an aerospike, just need to figure out how to make it not be ridiculously heavy
one step closer to some futuristic spaceships
RDE’s are crazy, it’s so cool that they’ve made this work
This would make Integza proud.
Looks like a naboo starfighter engine cone
The reminiscence is astonishing
Man, there's something really beautiful about it.
Not only is it a rotating detonation rocket engine it's also an aerospike, truly astonishing what modern 3D printing tech can do!
Straight up future tech
Rocketry is an art
Damn! That looks like the rear exhaust trail from the engines right outta Star Wars Phantom Menace the Naboo N1 Starfighter!
This is beautiful! Congratulations NASA!
Holy Sh;t! That was a long run! They must have really been making progresson keeping the detonation front stable. Im super impressed!
That moment when the exhaust is dragging so much air with it that the "safe" side of the engine becomes dangerous
Thanks for putting that into words. Just the sight of that screams raw power!
I ran this setup all the time with my technician in Hawken... Cool to see it in reality
Bruh another tech main... Remember the glory days
Like Minds 😊@@iticotaco5603
07
This is by far the longest run I have seen. This engines arevso tyni and Powerful. Hope it is the next tech
so cool to see progress on those engines
oh hi, i didnt expect you to be here
25% more efficiency and 10% more thrust than a comparable deflagration engine. That's really, really good. What's more, and I'm only guessing... On the face of it looks like an engine that would have consistent performance across all altitudes and corresponding air pressures, even vacuum. Space planes anybody?
That's the point of the aerospike configuration!
And it is significantly smaller with far less parts. No pre burners or dual turbopumps and spin primers. Vast improvement. Plus they 3d printed this.
as a gamer I hope this unlocks a crazy thrust to weight ratio getting that sweet delta v we have never seen.
As someone who just washed their dog, I hope this as well.
As a fully grown man, I hope this as well.
As a snake licker, I hope this as well.
Wow! This is freaking awesome. Please post more videos like this. Get the Slowmo guys out there.
Long time working, Excellent.
What type of fuel and how much is used per second? Is the thrust variable? If anyone knows where I could find that info I’d appreciate it. Merry Christmas all!!
seems like a dangerous test in the middle of an intersection
Sheeeesh that's a whole lotta power for something that size. Plus it was 3D printed, can't wait to see the engine attached to an air/ space craft.
No way! They finally pulled that off :O I read and watched a lot about the theory of these engines and even saw some small prototypes running but not yet a full scale one. I wish they would list some more data about it. Especially the ISP.
Wow, return of the aerospike engine?😳
A 3dprinted aerospike! Three major achievements here.
@@matthewkaiser7803 Move over, SpaceX. The professionals are here to show the amateurs how it’s done.
This is not aerospike, it's way, waaaay better.
@@randomnickifyit is an aerospike, though; it does not have a bell nozzle, but instead an annular aerospike.
The same rotation that destroyed early models of the SN-1 before they added baffles is now being used intentionally to create a more efficient rocket engine.
you can really feel the power of this one.
That ring, looks so cool
Its over 9000!!!
Very interesting acoustics. Would love to hear it directly.
Trust me you wouldn't unless permanent hearing damage is your kink.
I don't think that would be a good idea
That's insanely cool!
my ears. this was awesome
it feels wrong seeing something so futuristic to be meassured in such an outdated unit as pounds
Maybe you should look at these achievements from other countries, problems solved ✅
Back end looks good, the front could be more aero though 😋
I've seen this in intagza video! Never thought I'd see one from NASA themselves!
A thing of beauty. Truly. 🚀✨
Even sounds noticeably different. Bad ass
What sort of performance advantages will this offer compared to more conventional engines, such as the RL-10 or RS-25?
These engines can be a lot more efficient because they produce exhaust gasses travelling at supersonic speeds. (up to 25% more efficiency than ordinary engines.)
@hamzahkhan8952 pretty much all rocket engines produce supersonic exhaust. The difference here is that the flame front in the combustion chamber propagates at super sonic speeds. And "up too" is not a particularly interesting statistic, as there are plenty of conventional (deflagration based) engines that have specific impulses more than 25% higher than other conventional engines. Comparing this to some of the best conventional engines, such as the RL-10, is much more interesting in my opinion.
I'm still waiting to see air breathing RDEs. That would be truly revolutionary. But this is also super exciting can't wait to see more about the technology in the future. Rde and scramjets are just the bees knee!
Artificial intelligence actually came up with this design. It's hilarious because they thought it would be impossible and didn't sound logical. It's intended to allow spaceships to travel much faster.
@babykinns2.0 typical "AI fan" not understanding both AI and anything else around it. Rotating detonation engines were thought about way before any kind of "AI" was working, and it doesn't make "spaceships go faster", it's a more efficient design. 🤦♂️
this is absolutely insane
Wow I cant wait for rockets with these guys 😃
QUESTIONS: 1) What's the fuel efficiency gain ... 5% ? 2) Any issues with spool up and/or throttling up/down ? 3) Can it be used in atmosphere as well as vaccum, or does it need to be optimized for either like the raptor ? 4) What other advantages over conventional designs do you have to share on the design ?
from how i understand a rotating detonation engine to work, they likely cant be throttled. the shock front will travel at a constant speed, and upsetting the fuel air mixture will likely just destabilize the system rather than cause "less" explosion like a conflagration engine would. the efficiency gain is theoretically like 25 to 30 percent, which is massive for rocket engines, whole new systems have been devised in the past just to save 10. the nature of an aerospike form factor means (assuming its not using ambient air for the detonation cycle) it should be at peak efficiency no matter what the surrounding atmosphere is, or isnt. it wouldn't need different engine nozzles for different pressures. in addition to fuel efficiency, the engine itself is much smaller than a conventional bell nozzle rocket. this saves weight that can either be used for more payload, or more fuel, or just plain ol smaller rockets. the challenge with it is stability of course. the idea of this kind of engine isnt new, and its taken a looooong time to get the detonation waves to be stable even when its sitting still on a test bed. so that will be the primary hurdle for this technology, is making them anywhere close to as reliable as conventional engines. another downside is that they are, currently, very small engines. in this sense i mean they havn't been scaled up to the kinds of thrusts of main stage rocket motors, they likely wouldn't be able to survive the forces or be stable at that scale. at least not yet. so these are late stage engines at best so far. and in terms of efficiency we've got far better options for "we're already in orbit and dont have to worry about raw thrust" than these things. though i suspect if nasa is testing them, its for a reason. so who knows, they probably know better than any of us what their use case is.
@@foxboy64 Great reply, thank you. +1 😃 Yowzer - 25% would be pretty profound. By ambient air I'd intended to imply it's affect on the shape of combustion bell/nozzle due to how gasses expand differently with altitude ... that would seem like a critical factor for such a highly tuned system based on shockwave propagation.
aerospike style engines dont have a bell. that lil cone in the middle is basically what the bell is. it allows the engine to dynamically change how the exhaust flows depending on pressure, so that it always has the optimal shape no matter the atmosphere. aerospikes are an old technology basically, and they've been tried with conventional conflagration type combustion before. the shuttle was originally intended to use them i believe but that was scrapped in favor of more tried and true technology. this is largly because the aerospike nozzle design is very hard to cool effectivly. a bell nozzle can have the fuel flowing around in rings through it, to act as coolant and to heat up the fuel before combustion. an aerospike cant do this. however this new alloy nasa is using for this particular aerospike seems to be able to handle the temperatures involved. at least at this scale
@@foxboy64 I wonder if someday, if/when thermoelectric material efficiency gets high enough, if something like the peltier effect could be used to drain the heat gradient to generate electrical current. If so, maybe it could be used in an aerospike. 🙃
Пищевая фольга полетела , кто то накосячил 😊
Well this is amazing!
Looks extra cool really
I bet the neighbors love this. I know I would!!!💪
This is Rocket City. A lot of the neighbors are NASA engineers.
Half a minute for an RDE has to be a record. They are notoriously unstable.
it was actaully fired for 251sec as stated in the description
I mean, they've got "detonation" right there in the name, maybe they shoulda called it the "rotating long lasting engine" instead? 😋
@@hamzahkhan8952 Looks like people aint got time to read before s***posting.
@@Ulrich_von_Jungingennot everyone looks at the description. the video seems to imply it was a short test.
@@hamzahkhan8952 Looks like people aint got time to read before s***posting.
the idea was there but for so long it was too difficult to harness a continuous detonation. good job 🎉
It ran for more than milliseconds. That’s freaking awesome
Looks a lot like thrusters on Star Trek. Awesome
Ох еще бы написали сколько у него расход на эти секунды и чем заправляют этого зверя.
I'd guess quite a bit less than a conventional engine with the same power output
holy cow that was impressive.
That... was... awesome
NASA just casually building engines most thought to be utterly impossible. Yet for some reason SpaceX keeps getting the headlines, while NASA's budget is cut. Sad.
Мы с пацанами такие паяльные лампы ещё в 80-х во дворе жгли 😂😂😂. Мы не знали, что это перспективный детонационный двигатель! 😅😅😅
Whoa! Fantastic guys!
I saw a video about RDEs a while ago. This is crazy.
whoah, quite the airflow for such a small engine! not quite an EpsteinDrive, but we are getting there 😅
Look Elon, it didn't blow up!
Moron
kzhead.info/sun/ZtuGcpmHZIuvg4U/bejne.htmlsi=gm2r5wFeVzMgmPpu Falcon 9 now has more successful launches in a row than any other rocket in history. It used to blow up too.
Concerning!
That's pretty rare for almost any rocket engine test, no matter who or what government does it.
I like the sound of the Rocket thrust
I saw an article picture of that. Looks like we getting there.
I just love how this rde looks like it wants to tear apart everything on the intake side to break free
And they let it ride while it was flying apart until test failure or completion… boss mode
@@majfauxpas That's the point, though, right?
I made an uncontrolled yelp of pleasure when the engine spinned up, amazing!!!
I love how it sounds like screaming
No idea what this is, but I'm psyched