Methane rocket fuel is easier to handle and convenient but, as Blue Origin saw, it can be very explosive |
Going straight up is hard. It takes a lot of energy. For those of us who enjoy hiking, cycling or running, hills are the bane of our existence. The hills sap us of our strength and speed, and they require more effort than we often want to expend.
Rockets are the ultimate definition of vertical ascent: They go up, fast. They need lots of raw power, and they need it immediately. Interestingly, though, the modern incarnation of reusable rocketry has come back to the same basic fuel as the human body uses: hydrocarbons. Granted, SpaceX and Blue Origin’s massive rockets are not using sugar, carbs or fats, but they are using the simplest hydrocarbon, methane: a single carbon atom with four hydrogen atoms around it, CH₄.
As a physical chemist, I get to explore how molecules produce and absorb energy. I have seen how various chemicals have different benefits and drawbacks for a variety of energy applications.
Orchestrating the pros and cons is like how different plays in football accomplish the same goal of getting the ball down the field but do so with distinct approaches. None are perfect, and some are more spectacular than others.
A different type of fuel
The use of methane as a component of rocket fuel is different from what was used during Apollo or in the earlier crewed space rockets, and even in the space shuttle main engines. In all those rockets,........