Chinese company Landspace has launched the world’s first methane-liquid oxygen space rocket into orbit.
Key points
- The Zhuque-2 rocket was launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert on July 11.
- Methane, aside from burning with a pretty blue color during launch, has been billed by advocates as being more environmentally friendly.
- While methane is a greenhouse gas, it is cleaner than the standard RP-1 (kerosene) used in many rockets.
- One of the two planned rockets will carry the spacecraft that will land on the moon’s surface and the other will transport the astronauts.
- In 2020, China brought back samples from the moon on an uncrewed mission, making China only the third nation to have retrieved lunar samples after the United States and the Soviet Union.
- LandSpace’s methane-liquid oxygen rocket is deemed to be less polluting, safer, cheaper and a suitable propellant for a reusable rocket.
