Currently, most rocket fuel is made from a mix of kerosene and oxygen, known as kerolox, or hydrogen and oxygen, known as hydrolox. While effective, the fuels are infamous for the vast amount of carbon emissions they produce — a fact that has come under increased scrutiny following global calls to cut back on emissions.
According to Axios, SpaceX's Starship rocket, RocketLab's Neutron, Blue Origin's New Glenn, and ULA's Vulcan Centaur all use methane fuel. However, none have successfully reached space yet. Starship, the largest rocket ever launched, infamously exploded a few minutes into launch. Aside from being more environmentally friendly, methane is also more efficient and easier to store than its counterparts.Stephen Heister, professor of engineering at Purdue University, told the outlet that methane produces 10% more thrust than kerosene, and it has increased in availability in recent years due to advances in natural gas extraction.
"We've seen over the past two decades just a huge increase in interest in using methane as a rocket fuel," he said."In most instances, it's replacing kerosene, which was used in the Apollo program."
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These companies are leading the charge to manufacture materials in spaceSpace offers a unique environment for research and development because its higher levels of radiation, microgravity and near vacuumless state allow companies to come up with new manufacturing methods or materials that are not possible on Earth. CNBC spoke with two companies, California-based Varda Space Industries and UK-based Space Forge, to see how the startups hope to make manufacturing in space a profitable business.
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