Rotating Detonation Engines
First developed in the 1950s at the University of Michigan, these rocket engines use powerful and chaotic detonations, self-propagating thanks to hypersonic shockwaves travelling around a ring-shaped combustion chamber, in place of slower, more controllable combustion reactions, to create powerful, high efficiency rockets and engines.
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Explosions get you much more bang from your fuel buck than combustion – if your engine can withstand them. NASA believes the rotating detonation engine could be the future of deep space travel, and it's getting strong results in prototype testing. -
A Florida team working with the US Air Force says that it's built and tested an experimental model of a rotating detonation rocket engine, which uses a spinning series of chaotic explosions inside a ring channel to create super-efficient thrust. -
The U.S. Navy is examining the potential of using Rotating Detonation Engines (RDEs) to improve fuel consumption and cut costs.