NASA's 3D-Printed Rocket Engine Beats Previous Records, Advancing Deep-Space Exploration

Quincy Jon, Tech Times 22 December 2023, 11:12 am

NASA successfully tested its 3D-printed Rotating Detonation Rocket Engine (RDRE), advancing deep space exploration.

At NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, the RDRE demonstrated a sustained burn lasting three times longer than the initial trial, producing over 5,800 pounds of thrust for 251 seconds.

Thomas Teasley, a combustion devices engineer at Marshall leading the RDRE tests, explained that the extended burn simulates the typical requirements for a lander touchdown or a deep-space burn that could propel a spacecraft from the Moon to Mars.

According to Gizmodo, using rotating detonation, the RDRE uses supersonic combustion to create greater power with less fuel than traditional propulsion systems.

A Breakthrough in Space Exploration

NASA expects the RDRE could help crewed landers and interplanetary spacecraft reach the Moon and Mars. The propulsion system holds the potential to enhance efficiency and reduce reliance on traditional fuel-consuming engines. The RDRE's inaugural test in 2022 produced over 4,000 pounds of thrust for nearly a minute.

The recent test aimed to comprehend how to scale the combustor to different thrust classes, supporting various engine systems and missions, ranging from landers to upper-stage engines and even supersonic retropropulsion for landing larger payloads or humans on Mars.

NASA engineers are actively working to scale the technology for higher performance, with plans to develop a fully reusable 10,000-pound RDRE. Teasley emphasized that the RDRE represents a significant leap in design efficiency, bringing NASA closer to creating lightweight propulsion systems capable of sending more mass and payload further into deep space—a crucial element in NASA's Moon to Mars vision.

Other Space News: NASA Laser Beams Cat; Uranus Update

In a distinct development in space exploration, NASA harnessed laser technology to transmit an ultra-high-definition video of a cat named Taters from space to Earth. The 15-second video covered a distance of 19 million miles, showcasing the potential of laser communication for improved connectivity in remote parts of the solar system.

Taters, owned by a NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory employee, engaged in play by chasing a laser beam in the video, transmitted via laser from a spacecraft launched with SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket. The successful demonstration opens avenues for enhanced space communication technologies, per a report from the BBC.

Meanwhile, NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has turned its gaze towards Uranus, the unique ice giant that spins on its side, capturing a detailed image showcasing rings, moons, storms, and atmospheric features, including a seasonal polar cap. This enhanced image, building upon a two-color version released earlier, offers additional wavelength coverage, providing a more intricate view of the distant planet, as per Webb Space Telescope's report.

The telescope's remarkable sensitivity enabled the observation of Uranus' dim inner and outer rings, notably capturing the elusive Zeta ring, an extremely faint and diffuse ring closest to the planet. It also revealed several of Uranus' 27 known moons, even detecting small moons within the intricate ring system.

In the 1980s, Voyager 2 depicted Uranus as a serene, solid blue sphere in visible wavelengths. However, in the infrared spectrum, the James Webb Space Telescope exposes a dynamic ice world with captivating atmospheric features.