Methane Powered
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(I know, the jokes practically write themselves...)
Beating Elon Musk’s SpaceX, a Chinese aerospace company called LandSpace has successfully launched a rocket using methane and liquid oxygen. The rocket, called Zhuque-2, blasted off Wednesday from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in the Gobi desert. It successfully deposited a test payload into the sun-synchronous orbit (SSO). LandSpace has become the first aerospace company to achieve this feat globally.
Wednesday’s launch marked the second lift-off attempt for Zhuque-2 after its first launch failed in December last year.
Methane-powered engines are crucial for the aerospace industry as they offer lucrative business prospects. Such engines are highly sought after because of their high performance and low operational cost. Notably, methane can be produced in space itself by synthesising water and carbon dioxide.
This technology is even more suitable for reusable rockets, making it the front-running design in the new era of rocketry.
This year so far, two launch attempts with the use of methane-powered engines have already ended in failure. Two methane-powered rockets, the Terran 1 from Relativity Space in the US and SpaceX’s Starship, failed to reach space in their maiden attempts.
I'm not sure that Starship's failure was due to the methane technology, however.
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Somewhat related, but I am somewhat familiar with a project in Thailand that uses the methane from pig poop, cleans it up and compresses it. In the area I know about, the compresses LPG was then used to power taxis.
https://www.globalmethane.org/expo-docs/india10/postexpo/ag_thiengburanathum.pdf
