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Japan's space industry opened potentially an udder-ly new chapter on Thursday with a start-up testing a prototype rocket engine that runs on fuel derived purely from a plentiful local source: cow dung.
The experiment saw the engine blast out a blue-and-orange flame 10-15 meters (30-50 feet) horizontally out of an open hangar door for around 10 seconds in the rural northern town of Taiki.
The liquid "biomethane" required was made entirely from gas derived from cow manure from two local dairy farms, according to Interstellar Technologies chief executive Takahiro Inagawa.
"We are doing this not just because it is good for the environment but because it can be produced locally, it is very cost effective, and it is a fuel with high performance and high purity," Inagawa told AFP.
phys.org
The experiment saw the engine blast out a blue-and-orange flame 10-15 meters (30-50 feet) horizontally out of an open hangar door for around 10 seconds in the rural northern town of Taiki.
The liquid "biomethane" required was made entirely from gas derived from cow manure from two local dairy farms, according to Interstellar Technologies chief executive Takahiro Inagawa.
"We are doing this not just because it is good for the environment but because it can be produced locally, it is very cost effective, and it is a fuel with high performance and high purity," Inagawa told AFP.
To the moo-n: Cow dung fuels Japan's space ambitions
Japan's space industry opened potentially an udder-ly new chapter on Thursday with a start-up testing a prototype rocket engine that runs on fuel derived purely from a plentiful local source: cow dung.
