NASA successfully tests new engine for deep space exploration

NASA has announced that its engineers have developed and tested the agency’s first full-scale rotary blast rocket engine (RDRE).

The agency said the design could significantly change the way future propulsion systems are built. The supersonic rocket motor uses blasts, with the design producing more power with less fuel than current propulsion systems.

It has the potential to power both human landers and interplanetary vehicles to deep space destinations such as the moon or Mars.

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The engine was fired more than ten times during testing conducted in Alabama Eastern test area of ​​the Marshall Space Flight Center.

NASA said the engine achieved its primary goal of demonstrating that the hardware could function for a long time while also being able to withstand the extreme heat and pressure created by blasts. At full throttle, the RDRE produced over 4,000 pounds of thrust for nearly a minute at an average chamber pressure of 622 pounds per square inch. That is the highest pressure recorded for this design.

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Notably, there was also the successful execution of both deep throttling and internal ignition.

“This successful demonstration brings the technology closer to use with future flight vehicles NASA and commercial space to move more payload and mass to deep space destinations, an essential part of making space exploration more sustainable,” NASA said.

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Due to this recent success, additional work is being done by engineers to develop a fully reusable 10,000-pound class RDRE to identify performance advantages over traditional liquid rocket engines.