RDRE

Rotating Detonation Rocket Engines (RDREs) use continuous detonation waves to achieve unprecended thermodynamic efficiency and more compact designs, enabling high-performance spacecraft propulsion.

✶ RDREs

A New Era of Rocket Engines

Detonative propulsion offers a path to significantly smaller combustion chambers and improved propulsion efficiency. 

By reducing propulsion system mass, it can free capacity for payloads and mission capability. This is the technological foundation of what we build at Stellar Alpina.

01

Compact combustion chambers

02

Higher propulsion efficiency

03

Lower system mass

04

More mission capacity

✶ Overview

CLOVER | The Engine Powering Our First Spacecraft

Stellar Alpina’s first orbital engine powered by green, storable propellants, yet delivering the performance of cryogenic propulsion.

Thrust

1 kN

Oxydizer

Hydrogen Peroxide

Fuel

Propane

✶ Propellant

The Holy Grail of Chemical Propulsion

Conventional spacecraft propulsion has long relied on highly toxic chemicals such as MMH and NTO. We take a different approach: propane and High-Test Peroxide (HTP), concentrated hydrogen peroxide, the same chemical found in household bleach.

Longer Missions

Reliable propellant storage, even on extended missions.

Cleaner

Lower toxicity and reduced environmental impact during ground testing.

High performance

Strong inherent propulsion performance, further enhanced by detonation efficiency gains.

Future-proof

high cooling capacity and

the ability to serve as a monopropellant in reaction control thrusters.

✶ Design Philosophy

Relentless Pursuit of Progress

We build fast, test hard, and push our engines to their absolute limits. Every firing is meticulously analyzed, and every insight turned into better hardware/models. Our experience has taught us that relentless testing and rapid iteration, combined with world-class simulations, are the right approach to turning concepts into reality.