Engineers Propose a New 'Detonating' Rocket Engine, And It's as Wild as It Sounds | Space - ScienceAlert

This article was originally published by Universe Today. Read the original article.

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Matthew Williams - Writer, Curator, Universe Today reports, In the current era of space exploration, the name of the game is "cost-effective". 

The experimental rotating detonation engine developed by the UW team.
Photo: James Koch/University of Washington

By reducing the costs associated with individual launches, space agencies and private aerospace companies (aka NewSpace) are ensuring that access to space is greater.
And when it comes to the cost of launches, the single greatest expense is that of propellant. To put it simply, breaking free to Earth's gravity takes a lot of rocket fuel!

To address this, researchers at the University of Washington recently developed a mathematical model that describes the workings of a new launch mechanism: the rotating detonation engine (RDE).

This lightweight design offers greater fuel-efficiency and is less complicated to construct. However, it comes with the rather large trade-off of being too unpredictable to be put into service right now.
The study that describes their research, Mode-locked rotating detonation waves: Experiments and a model equation, recently appeared in the journal Physical Review E...

Koch and his colleague's research was made possible thanks to funding provided by the US Air Force Office of Scientific Research and the Office of Naval Research.

While it is too soon to say, the implications of this research could be far-reaching, resulting in rocket engines that are easier to produce and more cost-effective. All that is needed is to ensure that the engine design itself is safe and reliable.
Read more... 

Source: ScienceAlert