Image Courtesy: Robin Wyss / Aris Space
A team of students in Switzerland has successfully tested an experimental rocket engine capable of generating 20,000 detonation waves every second, demonstrating a propulsion technology that space agencies including NASA have been exploring for future launch systems and deep-space missions.
The engine, known as a rotating detonation rocket engine or RDRE, was developed by the Pegasus student team at the ETH Zurich under the ARIS space initiative. Powered by propane and liquid oxygen, the engine operates through continuous rotating explosions inside a circular combustion chamber, producing extremely high pressure and temperature for improved fuel efficiency, according to ETH Zurich.
The successful firing took place in April 2026 at Switzerland’s Dübendorf Air Base after an earlier failed test just a week before. During the nighttime trial, the student-built engine achieved stable detonation waves while engineers monitored pressure data and high-speed camera footage in real time. Team members described the blast as powerful enough to shake the nearby control hut while a long stream of flame erupted from the copper engine.
Rotating detonation engines are considered one of the most promising next-generation propulsion concepts because they extract more usable energy from fuel than conventional rocket engines. Even modest efficiency improvements can have a major impact in aerospace, where fuel often makes up 80 to 90 percent of a rocket’s launch weight.
The technology works by sustaining continuous supersonic shockwaves that circle the combustion chamber thousands of times per second. Inside the ETH Zurich engine, those waves reached frequencies of roughly 20,000 detonations every second, placing enormous thermal and mechanical stress on the system’s materials and injector components.
One of the project’s biggest engineering challenges involved designing an injector capable of precisely mixing propane and liquid oxygen in under a millisecond while preventing destructive pressure waves from traveling backward through the fuel lines. Several components, including the compact copper combustion chamber, were manufactured using metal 3D printing techniques.
The achievement places the Swiss students among a relatively small group worldwide to successfully demonstrate a liquid-fueled rotating detonation rocket engine. Only a limited number of countries and research programs have publicly reported comparable tests so far.
The project also highlights how universities are increasingly contributing to advanced aerospace research once limited to government agencies and defense contractors. As commercial launch providers push for cheaper and more efficient access to orbit, propulsion systems like RDREs are drawing growing interest for their potential to lower costs and increase payload capacity.
“You break big problems down into smaller ones until they become solvable,” student engineer Mattia Röösli said while reflecting on the project’s development process.
