Taming a Tornado in a Tin Can

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Transcript

00:00Now you probably want to know how all this actually works. It logically starts with fuel

00:07injection. Fuel and oxidizer are injected into the annular combustion chamber. The injection ports and

00:14the combustion chamber ring must be manufactured down to the micrometer for this to succeed. Then

00:21the first ignition starts the detonation wave. The detonation wave races through the ring at

00:27supersonic speed, more than a mile or 1.6 kilometers per second. Behind the wave, fresh propellant is

00:36immediately injected, which is called by the next lap of the detonation wave. The high energy exhaust

00:43gases are directed through a nozzle, ultimately producing the long-awaited thrust. The trick here

00:50is to inject the right fuel mixture in the right place at precisely the right moment. Sounds

00:58complicated? That's because it is. NASA engineers are juggling explosions here that are faster than the

01:06speed of sound.

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