![The Detonation Research Test Facility, unveiled last week, will allow university experts to conduct controlled explosions. [COURTESY OF TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY]](/cdn-cgi/image/onerror=redirect,width=640,height=640,format=webp/https://storage.googleapis.com/uploads.mongoosehq.com/url/media/129604907/b2bf1dd2e069ec9718d0b1506dd3a24d26604237f89c276728ed6aa5d492e910)
Overview
- Texas A&M opened the Detonation Research Test Facility, which it bills as the world’s largest academic site for controlled explosions.
- The lab centers on a nearly 500-foot steel tube over 6 feet wide at the Texas A&M-RELLIS campus, paired with a 90-meter earth-covered muffler for containment.
- Advanced sensors and laser diagnostics record how methane–air blasts form and fade, with detonations reaching about Mach 5 in under five seconds.
- Aerospace researchers Elaine Oran and Scott Jackson lead the project, backed by state research programs, national labs, Defense Department partners, industry, and international collaborators.
- Researchers have already run an electric-current ignition trial in a methane–air mix and are preparing papers as they open the site to outside teams.