WEBVTT

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Engines.

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I'm John Dankanich.

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I'm both the Chief Technologist
at the NASA Marshall Space

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Flight Center and also the
capability lead for in space

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transportation for NASA.

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My background is broadly
propulsion system technology

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development and testing.

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However, for the rotating
detonation rocket engine work,

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I'm working very closely with
the real subject matter experts

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at the NASA Glenn Research
Center and the Marshall Space

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Flight Center.

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Also, IN2023I LED a Technology
Assessment Group technical

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interchange, where we attempted
to really bring in the entire

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technical community and
stakeholders of the rotating

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detonation rock conditions or
RDRES.

618bc9f2-6429-42f4-8c99-a5240810ba06-0
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At that meeting we had both
users and developers of the

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technology throughout industry,
large and small government and

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academia.

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As a community, we
systematically identified a

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thorough list of the key
challenges and technology gaps

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for the technology.

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We also identified those gaps
that are likely best suited for

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the Small Business and Research
Institute communities.

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To close this STTR subtopic and
companion SBIR subtopic are a

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few of the explicit gaps
identified from that workshop

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that feed into the current
opportunity.

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As I mentioned earlier, I worked
with the broader community to

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identify dozens of critical gaps
before we will have confidence

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in delivering a flight
operational rotating detonation

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rocket engine.

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We do believe we could
aggressively pursue an

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operational RDRE and realize a
significant length reduction

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over conventional rocket engines
today, but there are significant

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challenges remaining to
efficiently design, analyze and

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deliver and optimize integrated
flight systems.

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The gaps span everything from
improving our CFD techniques

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requiring new materials, observe
limitations to analytical

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models, challenges with
diagnostics operating in the

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extreme environment both thermal
and heat flux extremes, but also

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the high frequency nature of the
device and even macroscopic

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challenges with minimizing
pressure drops in the injector

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just to name a few.

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Our subtopic for this year is
focused on alternative design

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approaches for high heat flux
detonation engines.

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This is looking for technology
solutions applicable to the

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Rdres.

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There is very limited literature
available on the relevant

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thermal structural environments
of these engines.

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We know that the traditional
Bartz approximation is

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insufficient.

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Additionally, modeling, testing
and validation is required with

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updated models before we can
efficiently optimize the

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performance of an RDRE.

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There are two focused scopes for
the 2024 solicitation.

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The 1st is looking at
alternative materials.

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To date, we have successfully
achieved long duration

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operations, but primarily
through active cooling and with

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the use of copper alloys.

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These approaches decrease
detonation pressurized and

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increase parasitic deflagration.

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So for the first scope, we're
looking at the use of

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alternative materials that can
add new options for us to use

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towards higher performance
solutions.

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Advanced refractory metals are
used in rocket engines, but any

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material suitable for the high
flux, high heat flux and high

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cycle combustion environments is
welcomed.

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We would like to see proposals
that include material

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identification, thermal
structural design and analysis

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and ideally perform testing even
a subscale to validate the

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design.

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The second scope is a bit more
fundamental in helping the

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community simply understand
thermal structural environments.

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Here we're looking for solutions
to improve the quality of our

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heat transfer data and develop
ways to efficiently determine

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the thermal structural loads the
engines are experiencing.

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To aid in the evaluation of
design choices, we really need

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to understand the detonation
behavior so that we can apply it

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to our heat transfer and stress
analysis tools.

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We're also open to new
diagnostics and methods to

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collect the data needed to
validate new models for the high

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frequencies cyclic combustor
nozzle flows.

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We need better time and spatial
variations of heat flux and

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pressure.

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Also, some of our high fidelity
CFD runs can take months today

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and it's simply not efficient
for design analysis iterations.

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While our ongoing attempts for
lower fidelity models have clear

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deficiencies in matching our
existing data, this second scope

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is not simply to generate more
teleimetry data, but must have a

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component towards time efficient
methods to calculate thermal

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structural loads and evaluate
material and design approaches.

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Infusion is my priority for the
rotating detonation rocket

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engine investments.

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Because we are soliciting
materials, design, diagnostics

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and modeling solutions over
integrated system solutions, The

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infusion of the STTR subtopics
is likely through adoption by

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the RDRE development community.

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There are multiple commercial
companies developing Rdres, in

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some cases for their own
applications as their own

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customers, and in some cases to
optimize and produce Rdres for

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external customers.

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Also, NASA is transitioning from
component testing to system

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design and development
ourselves.

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So ideally the products from the
STTR would be widely beneficial

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and therefore transitioned or
potentially licensed to the

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00:05:09.163 --> 00:05:12.869
broad community including NASA
industry, the Air Force Research

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Laboratory, the Space Force, and
industry.

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One thing I've learned over a
decade working with the Tech

9d833e48-80eb-40c5-884f-f5bd542e3b70-1
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Transfer Office is that I'm not
great at predicting broader

9d833e48-80eb-40c5-884f-f5bd542e3b70-2
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impacts, but that they can be
quite pervasive.

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In other words, if we develop a
new diagnostic for extreme

a0cd5825-a646-48c3-8119-83b5f922840e-1
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environments, it's easy for me
to see transition paths to also

a0cd5825-a646-48c3-8119-83b5f922840e-2
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support our nuclear thermal
propulsion engine testing.

8288f291-dbfa-4162-9ad5-80ada994adb8-0
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The same for new materials and
analytical tools.

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Much of the aerospace community
is operating near the edge of

f751350d-490a-42a8-b5d5-9674b45b4501-1
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material limitations with a
range of opportunities.

c3d15156-83d7-42f2-af85-5b9b3140f60b-0
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What's always exciting about the
STTR and SBR program, however,

c3d15156-83d7-42f2-af85-5b9b3140f60b-1
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is those that that are more
difficult for me to predict in

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terms of infusion paths like
solid motor work that

c3d15156-83d7-42f2-af85-5b9b3140f60b-3
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transitioned into inflatable
furniture or new materials into

c3d15156-83d7-42f2-af85-5b9b3140f60b-4
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motor boat engines or golf
clubs, creating new businesses,

c3d15156-83d7-42f2-af85-5b9b3140f60b-5
00:06:01.772 --> 00:06:04.897
new test, new jobs and new
innovations throughout the

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00:06:04.897 --> 00:06:05.359
country.