Student-built rocket engine fires 20,000 rotating blasts per second

ETH Zurich’s ARIS students successfully tested a student-built rotating detonation rocket engine.

The engine ran on propane and liquid oxygen and achieved stable detonation waves at about 20,000 blasts per second.

The result validates the design after earlier setbacks and marks progress for the Pegasus team at Dübendorf Air Base.

The test highlights a more efficient propulsion concept that could cut launch costs and raise payload capacity for future missions.