Astrobotic Breaks Records for Hot Firing Rotating Detonation Rocket Engine (RDRE)

From Astrobotic on YT.

Astrobotic today announced the successful hot fire test of its Chakram rotating detonation rocket engine (RDRE) at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.

Two Chakram engine prototypes completed eight successful hot-fire tests, accumulating more than 470 seconds of total run time without any discernible damage to the engine hardware. The campaign included a 300-second continuous burn, which is now believed to have set the record for longest duration hot firing of an RDRE engine to date.

During testing, each engine produced more than 4,000 pounds of thrust, making Chakram one of the most powerful RDREs ever demonstrated.

Huge 3D Printed Variable Pitch Quadcopter

From YouTube – rctestflight explores the potential of low disc loading to improve drone efficiency by designing and building a custom quadcopter with oversized, variable-pitch rotor blades. Using 3D-printed parts and belt-driven motors, the project investigates whether this unique propulsion configuration can offer a viable alternative to conventional, high-RPM multirotor designs.

3D Reconstruction of the Space Shuttle Columbia Disaster (STS 107).

A sad day for everyone involved, and a HUGE fail for NASA at the time – On February 1, 2003, the Columbia mission STS-107 underwent a total disintegration during the reentry phase into Earth’s atmosphere, an event that claimed the lives of its seven crew members. Subsequent investigations identified the presence of structural failures, as well as an organizational inability to respond effectively in an emergency situation. In order to understand with precision how the events unfolded, this video presents a detailed technical analysis that reconstructs the sequence of events and identifies the causes that led to the accident.