Posted on February 21, 2025 by Sean M. Wood
Groundbreaking rocketry developments can be found here.
Although UTSA is a new entrant to rocket propulsion, it is now part of the conversation with programs like Purdue University, UCLA, the University of Michigan, the University of Central Florida, and the University of Alabama at Huntsville. The school’s talented students’ work in nontraditional forms of engine propulsion drives it.
In early January, PhD candidate Joe Hernandez-McCloskey presented a paper to a standing-room-only crowd at the 2025 AIAA SciTech Forum, the year’s premier aerospace research and development event. The topic was thermal management in a new rocket engine powered by detonation waves. Hernandez-McCloskey also showcased the subscale model he designed with NASA engineers.
“I’ve seen the design so many times I’m a bit desensitized to how it looks,” he said. “When I put it on the screen, I saw multiple heads turn to look at each other. I forgot it looks a little crazy. A little ‘Frankensteinish.’ We started calling it the ‘porcupine.’”
Rotating detonation rocket engines are intended to replace traditional rocket engines in many applications. Theoretically, they use propellant more efficiently, so they can be smaller and help a vehicle carry a greater payload. However, they also burn hotter. Hernandez-McCloskey’s model will be used in scaled experiments to test how heat flows and produce valuable data that can be used to build larger components to propel larger crafts.
“This component is meant for testing,” he said. “I included a call to action in my presentation encouraging the community to make more hardware like this to get a large enough data set to solve the heat transfer problem and get these things into space.”
In addition to its unique design and engine application, the piece was built differently. Traditional manufacturing is subtractive, in which a block of material is cut until only the necessary piece remains. The “porcupine” was manufactured additively.
“In metal additive manufacturing, we use a type of feedstock like powder or wire, and then we can slowly build a part up,” Hernandez-McCloskey said. “It’s not precisely like plastic 3D-printing, because this is miniature welding, but it offers significant freedom to add more instrumentation. It also saves us labor costs compared to traditional rocket engine manufacturing methods. It’s not inexpensive, but it certainly opens the door for numerous advancements.”
It also allowed him to put UTSA’s stamp on the project, literally and figuratively. Presenting at AIAA is huge for the school, according to Dr. Daniel Pineda assistant professor of mechanical engineering at the Margie and Bill Klesse College of Engineering and Integrated Design.
“There is significant investment in this technology from NASA, The Air Force Research Laboratory, and industry, and it is a great time to be involved in this area,” he said. “Engines are moving beyond the fundamental science challenges, so UTSA is now more involved with translating these concepts into real prototypes. That’s exciting for our students because it involves testing actual hardware to its limits.”
— Sean M. Wood
