Rotating Detonation Engines: A New Spin on Propulsion
Rotating detonation engines (RDEs) have roots in the 1950s. Early pioneers such as Arthur Nicholls at the University of Michigan studied whether spinning detonation waves in a ring of fuel injectors could produce propulsion. These initial experiments were difficult to sustain, and U.S. interest waned by the 1960s. However, research reports suggest Soviet scientists continued working on RDEs […]