A Story of "World First! Detonation Engine Space Demonstration"

Abstract

A detonation engine in space flight has been successfully demonstrated. This is the world's first successful demonstration of a detonation engine in space. The detonation engine system developed in this study was loaded onto the mission section of the sounding rocket S-520-31 and launched from the JAXA Uchinoura Space Center at 5:30 a.m. on July 27, 2021. After the separation of the first stage rocket, the rotating detonation engine and pulse detonation engine were successfully operated in space, and photo images, pressure, temperature, vibration, position, and attitude data were acquired by telemetry and RATS (Reentry and Recovery Module with Deployable Aeroshell Technology for Sounding Rocket Experiment). The fuel is methane and the oxidizer is oxygen. The detonation engine generates detonation and compression waves at extremely high frequencies (1-100 kHz) to drastically increase reaction speed, leading to radical reduction of rocket engine weights and high performance by easy generation of thrust. The success of this space flight demonstration will bring the detonation engine much closer to practical use as a kick motor for deep space exploration, and as a first and second stage engine for rockets.