It’s not everyday that you see NASA demo a methane-powered rocket engine, so hit the jump for a video.
Designed by XCOR Aerospace, the 5M15 engine develops 7,500 pounds of thrust by combusting liquid oxygen with methane. By contrast one of the engines on the space shuttle has nearly 400,000 pounds of thrust (the solid rocket boosters approach 3,000,000 a piece), but hey, it’s only a test engine. The big deal is that it runs on methane as opposed to hydrogen or something more exotic
It’s not everyday that you see NASA demo a methane-powered rocket engine, so hit the jump for a video.
Designed by XCOR Aerospace, the 5M15 engine develops 7,500 pounds of thrust by combusting liquid oxygen with methane. By contrast one of the engines on the space shuttle has nearly 400,000 pounds of thrust (the solid rocket boosters approach 3,000,000 a piece), but hey, it’s only a test engine. The big deal is that it runs on methane as opposed to hydrogen or something more exotic
