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Rocket lifts off with four Artemis II astronauts on a mission to the moon and back (apnews.com)
submitted 7 months ago by to c/world@lemmy.world
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[–] 3 points 7 months ago (3 children)

Define "sustainable rocket". There are greener fuels, like hydrogen peroxide, but I don't think they give enough push to get to orbit.

But if you're willing to drop the "rocket" part, you can remove the propellant entirely, and use a railgun or spinlaunch system. (Strictly speaking you'll still need some kind of propellant for corrections and orbital maneuvering, but you're not burning a fuckton of propellant just to beat gravity.)

There is also the question of the reusability of the rocket itself, but SpaceX and others have fairly well proven that by now.

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  • [–] 4 points 7 months ago*

    hydrogen peroxide

    The fuel is the least concern. They're using H2+O2, which burns to water and can be completely created by using the excess solar energy during peak times of the day. The costly/unsustainable thing is the huge rocket that is destroyed each launch and must be completely rebuilt from scratch each time.

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