NASA is working on a new type of rocket that could potentially help in our quest to reach Mars.
And the first test went pretty well.
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We first set foot on the Moon a little over 50 years ago and we’re now going back there, it seems.
NASA is even considering building a permanent base on the Moon and after that, we’re going to try and get to Mars.
In order to do that, NASA is working on a new type of rocket engine, which, just like anything else made by the US space agency, also comes with a cool acronym.
They call it the Rotating Detonation Rocket Engine, or RDRE for short.
The new RDRE is capable of achieving 25,810 Nm of thrust for 251 seconds.
A similar type of engine could ‘only’ get to 17,800 just over a year ago.
“The RDRE enables a huge leap in design efficiency,” NASA engineer Thomas Teasley said in a statement.
“If demonstrates we are closer to making lightweight propulsion systems that will allow us to send more mass and payload further into deep space, a critical component to NASA’s Moon to Mars vision.”
We should also point out that several components for the rocket were 3D printed, which makes this engine highly powerful and also incredibly efficient.
It appears that India’s Moon landing, the first country to reach the South Pole of the Moon, reignited the space race.
The fact that two of the world’s most prominent billionaires, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, are spending so much energy and money on privately run space companies probably helps, too.
Elon Musk’s SpaceX is playing an active role in this race.
Musk’s company provided the the rocket to which the first privately-constructed lunar lander was attached in the ongoing Odysseus mission.
And SpaceX will also collaborate with NASA for the aforementioned lunar base.
