Rotating detonation engine

The company reported rotating detonations of a compressed fuel-air mixture in the presence of the supersonic airflow necessary for speeds above Mach 5.

[7] DARPA is working with RTX on Gambit, researching the application of rotating detonation engines for supersonic air-launched standoff missiles.

[14] Daniel Paxson[15] at the Glenn Research Center used simulations in computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to assess the RDE's detonation frame of reference and compare performance with the PDE.

On January 25, 2023, NASA reported successfully testing its first full-scale rotating detonation rocket engine (RDRE).

[17] On December 20, 2023, a full-scale Rotating Detonation Rocket Engine combustor was reportedly fired for 251 seconds, achieving more than 5,800-pound-force (26 kN) of thrust.

Test stand video captured at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville Alabama USA, demonstrated ignition.

[18] According to Russian Vice Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, in mid-January 2018 NPO Energomash company completed the initial test phase of a 2-ton class liquid propellant RDE and plans to develop larger models for use in space launch vehicles.

[19] In May 2016, a team of researchers affiliated with the US Air Force developed a rotating detonation rocket engine operating with liquid oxygen and natural gas as propellants.

[26] The engine used gaseous methane and oxygen as propellants, generating an average thrust of 518 N and delivering 290 seconds of specific impulse.

Rotating combustion also created a torque of 0.26 N·m, so a S-shaped pulse detonation engine was used to reduce the spin of the stage.

[33] In 2021, the Institute of Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, successfully tested the world's first hypersonic detonation wave engine powered by kerosene, which could propel a plane at Mach 9.