Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic, a space robotics company, recently completed a successful hot fire test of its Chakram rotating detonation rocket engine (RDRE). The test was conducted at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.
RDREs are a propulsion technology that combusts propellants using supersonic detonation waves that rotate around the engine’s ring-shaped outer body. The technology offers an increase in engine efficiency by as much as 15 percent, an increased thrust-to-weight ratio, and improved engine packaging.
During testing, two Chakram engine prototypes completed eight successful hot-fire tests. Each engine produced more than 4,000 pounds of thrust, and all hot fires reached thermal steady state
with the exception of two brief igniter tests
“With any cutting-edge technology like an RDRE, moving from design into testing, you’re always worried about unknown factors that could be critical to performance,” Bryant Avalos, Astrobotic Chakram program principal investigator, said. “But the engine performed even better than expected. The 300-second burn was the cherry on top. Demonstrations like this show how RDRE technology could support a wide range of Astrobotic missions, from propulsion on future lunar landers to in-space orbital transfer vehicles, and other capabilities that will help expand operations throughout cislunar space.”
The company plans to conduct future design iterations and test campaigns.