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> Methalox combusts to CO2. As the burgeoning space industry scales up exponentially, so will the emissions. Methane can be manufactured to be carbon neutral.
by thinkcontext 5y ago
> Methalox combusts to CO2. As the burgeoning space industry scales up exponentially, so will the emissions.
Methane can be manufactured to be carbon neutral. The cost is prohibitive for everyday on the ground energy use but not so for rocket launches, since fuel is such a tiny portion of the cost of a flight.
Musk has mentioned the possibility of doing this.
- practice9 5y agoThey need to figure out ISRU for Starship methane refueling on Mars, but I don't think it will be ready for the cargo launches. Probably can expect it to be deployed before the first Mars crew launches though
- h0l0cube 5y agoIt's a much better outcome, but remains to be seen whether it goes beyond a talking point and can scale to meet future demand. Also, depositing GHGs like water vapor and CO2 in the upper atmosphere is a somewhat worse proposition than ground level emissions