The rotating detonation engine, though, might someday offer both high velocity and decent fuel economy. The engine’s awesome name pretty much describes how the thing works. The engine’s detonation chamber is essentially a thin, hollow cylinder (actually, it’s the thin, hollow space between two concentric cylinders, if you want to get specific). The engine sets off a detonation using the usual means—fuel, oxygen, pressure, heat—which sends a shockwave chasing itself through the cylindrical loop. Imagine a movie scene where the heroes are running away from an explosion then get knocked forward by the shockwave. A rotating detonation engine traps that shockwave in an endless loop, using it to repeatedly jumpstart new detonations.
Sounds like an updated version of the WWII German V-1 "Buzz Bomb" pulse jet.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulsejet
I have been hearing/reading about this for at least 30 years and so far it has gone nowhere. I am not quite sure why that is. One guess I have is that the noise and vibrations are a problem.
Plus I even remember people here saying that because it's a pulsed process instead of a steady state one, then you have to overbuild the structure to withstand the peak pulse loads, which incurs a mass penalty.
The rotating detonations are continuous, Mach 5 explosions that rotate around the inside of a rocket engine, and the explosions are sustained by feeding hydrogen and oxygen propellant into the system at just the right amounts.
University of Central Florida: UCF Researchers Develop Groundbreaking New Rocket-Propulsion System https://www.ucf.edu/news/ucf-researchers-develop-groundbreaking-new-rocket-propulsion-system/QuoteThe rotating detonations are continuous, Mach 5 explosions that rotate around the inside of a rocket engine, and the explosions are sustained by feeding hydrogen and oxygen propellant into the system at just the right amounts.Study published in Combustion and Flame - Experimental evidence of H2/O2 propellants powered rotating detonation waves https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.combustflame.2019.12.031
It is the best engine since sliced bread. Mach 8+.Supposedly.It might be louder than a banshee though.It is a shame the examples we have in the real world are nothing close to the ones in the game above.But who knows, TIE (Twin Ion Engine) Fighters were on sci-fi at one point and now they are used in satellites en masse.Starlink uses ion engines for example.
WIRED: Rotating Detonation Engines Could Propel Hypersonic Flight https://www.wired.com/story/rotating-detonation-engine/
Ahmed tells us this engine design is being evaluated as a possible replacement for Aerojet Rocketdyne's RL-10 rocket, which was first developed in 1962. Modern versions are still in production for the upper stages of Atlas V and Delta IV rockets, with further versions under development for the Exploration, OmegA and Vulcan rockets, but a proven rotating detonation rocket engine could be a real game-changer."The U.S. Air Force is targeting a rocket launch flight test by 2025," says Ahmed, "and we are contributing to achieving that goal."
So far, the research has remained strictly ground-based, performed at UCF’s Propulsion and Energy Research Laboratory. The work has been supported by funding from the U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research. But don’t expect it to stay Earthbound forever — although it may still be a while before a completed rocket with this propulsion system makes it to the stars.“We are going through a strategic path forward for technological development,” Ahmed said. “The U.S. Air Force is targeting … a rocket launch flight test by 2025, which we are contributing to.”
