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Interesting that Bezos new rocket will be using Liquified Natural Gas, LNG. Cheap and I suspect inherently safer and eaiser to handle than Kerosene or Hydrogen,

Interesting that Bezos new rocket will be using Liquified Natural Gas, LNG. Cheap and I suspect inherently safer and eaiser to handle than Kerosene or Hydrogen, though slightly less energy dense. Safer because is same temp as Liquid Oxygen, SpaceX may I think have caused reliability problems for themselves using super cooled Oxygen.

perseusprime11 10y ago
In this context, I like this article from NASA that talks about Liquid Hydrogen as the fuel of choice for space exploration: http://www.nasa.gov/content/liquid-hydrogen-the-fuel-of-choice-for-space-exploration http://www.nasa.gov/content/liquid-hydrogen-the-fuel-of-choi...
- greglindahl 10y ago
  Yeah, reading that you would be surprised to learn that the lower stage of every launcher flying or in development doesn't use liquid hydrogen[1]. (1: OK Ariane 5/6 but most of the thrust is from solids)
  - ashamedpedant 10y ago
    >flying or in development You've forgotten about ULA's Delta IV and Delta IV Heavy, NASA's SLS, and JAXA's H-IIA and H-IIB. Delta IV Heavy is currently the most capable rocket in the world and uses liquid hydrogen throughout (no solid boosters).
dasmoth 10y ago
>>> SpaceX may I think have caused reliability problems for themselves using super cooled Oxygen. I was worried about that while watching the first couple of "full thrust" launch campaigns, but they quickly fell into a rhythm, and I see little evidence that it's holding things up. I suppose my opinion might change once we know what caused the Amos-6 pad failure. But don't think there's anything that singles out the sub-cooled LOX as a particular concern at the moment.
greglindahl 10y ago
Interesting that the article doesn't mention that SpaceX has been developing a new LNG engine for a few years. It's for the BFR/Mars Colonial Transport. If you look at the NYT article about Bezos, they basically published the Blue Origin press release. This ars article is only slightly better.

perseusprime11 10y ago

In this context, I like this article from NASA that talks about Liquid Hydrogen as the fuel of choice for space exploration: http://www.nasa.gov/content/liquid-hydrogen-the-fuel-of-choice-for-space-exploration http://www.nasa.gov/content/liquid-hydrogen-the-fuel-of-choi...

greglindahl 10y ago
Yeah, reading that you would be surprised to learn that the lower stage of every launcher flying or in development doesn't use liquid hydrogen[1]. (1: OK Ariane 5/6 but most of the thrust is from solids)
- ashamedpedant 10y ago
  >flying or in development You've forgotten about ULA's Delta IV and Delta IV Heavy, NASA's SLS, and JAXA's H-IIA and H-IIB. Delta IV Heavy is currently the most capable rocket in the world and uses liquid hydrogen throughout (no solid boosters).

dasmoth 10y ago

>>> SpaceX may I think have caused reliability problems for themselves using super cooled Oxygen. I was worried about that while watching the first couple of "full thrust" launch campaigns, but they quickly fell into a rhythm, and I see little evidence that it's holding things up. I suppose my opinion might change once we know what caused the Amos-6 pad failure. But don't think there's anything that singles out the sub-cooled LOX as a particular concern at the moment.

greglindahl 10y ago

Interesting that the article doesn't mention that SpaceX has been developing a new LNG engine for a few years. It's for the BFR/Mars Colonial Transport. If you look at the NYT article about Bezos, they basically published the Blue Origin press release. This ars article is only slightly better.