Quick Summary
• Students at the Swiss University ETH have built a Rotating Detonation Rocket Engine (RDRE). An RDRE burns propellant in a ring-shaped combustion chamber where a continuous supersonic wave detonation is...
Additional Context
One of the students, Mattia Röösli, developed the injector. He said that “rockets fascinate me because they fly simply by accelerating fuel backward,” adding that “it’s a mistake to think you can fully understand the topic before you start.” He also said that “you don’t need to be exceptionally talented to develop a rocket engine after two years of study. You go step by step and help each other,” which is encouraging news for anyone who might want to try something similar someday.
Together with the team, they made LPBF prototypes of the injector. They were helped by previous students who acted as mentors. They worked on safety concepts, other parts of the design, and testing for months. After test-firing, they achieved three sustained detonation waves. I love that this young team gets to