A long time ago, humans began to look up at the stars. The development of science and technology has allowed human beings to rush out of the blue planet of survival and begin to explore the vast universe. In order to go further in the universe, the fuel of the rocket is naturally important.
Green Hydrogen International (GHI), an American startup, recently unveiled a 60GW renewable hydrogen project in Texas that will be powered by wind and solar energy and stored in salt holes.
Salt cave storage, image courtesy of Green Hydrogen International
The "hydrogen city" of Duval, southern Texas, will be the world's largest green hydrogen production and storage center, producing more than 2.5 million tons of green hydrogen (hydrogen produced from renewable sources such as photovoltaics, wind power and solar energy) per year, which is about 3.5% of the world's gray hydrogen (hydrogen produced through fossil fuel combustion) production.
The project centers on the hydrogen storage facility in the Salt Hill of Piedras Pintas in Duval, where green hydrogen is piped to Corpus Christi and Brownsville, where it is converted into green ammonia, sustainable aviation fuels and other products, or directly to hydrogen power plants and other users across the state.
Hydrogen City project planning, photo credit: Green Hydrogen International
One of the uses of green hydrogen is sustainable rocket fuel in green hydrogen international's announced project plan, which is considering combining hydrogen with carbon dioxide in Brownsville to create a green methane rocket fuel for launch operations in South Texas.
Image courtesy of Green Hydrogen International
Brownsville is home to the SpaceX South Texas launch site, which in 2018 announced will be dedicated to SpaceX's Starship launch vehicles.
Image credit: VISIT Brownsville
SpaceX is currently developing a new rocket engine, the SpaceX Raptor, for the SpaceX Starship under development, and the Raptor engine will use cryogenic liquid methane and liquid oxygen as fuel instead of the kerosene-based fuel the company has used so far.
When he founded SpaceX, Musk said that he had his cosmic exploration destination - Mars. In order to complete the exploration of Mars, how to go and how to return are problems that need to be solved.
Image credit: SpaceX
After rushing out of the earth to reach Mars, the engine must produce enough specific impulse, and the upper limit of the specific impulse is determined by the fuel. After the exploration, it returns to Earth from Mars and takes the fuel for the return trip with it, which increases the load on the rocket and is obviously unrealistic. Therefore, it is necessary to replenish fuel in the universe so that the rocket can return to Earth.
At present, the more ideal rocket fuel should be liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen, but the preparation and storage of liquid hydrogen is more difficult. The freezing point of methane (about -182°) is comparable to the boiling point of liquid oxygen (-183°), compared with the temperature difference between liquid oxygen and kerosene, liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen, the requirements for fuel storage tanks are lower, and the structural weight can be reduced.
In addition, the specific impulse of the methane liquid oxygen engine, between the liquid hydrogen oxygen engine and the liquid oxygen kerosene engine, can rush to Mars. What's more, there is carbon dioxide and ice in the Martian environment, which can be made into methane and oxygen, which means that using SpaceX Raptor's rockets, you can refuel on Mars.
Renewable energy is undoubtedly the way forward, and green Hydrogen International uses hydrogen from renewable energy sources for a variety of uses. With GHI's hydrogen to help, it's hoped that SpaceX's rockets will land on Mars faster.
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