Developed by NASA, human will have environmentally friendly rocket fuel soon

News24xx.com - Many rockets depend on hydrazine, which is a combination of hydrogen and oxygen as fuel but those are harmful to the environment and living things. NASA seems to be one step away from having alternative fuels that are more environmentally friendly.

Instead of hydrazine, they will test the fuel which is a mixture of hydroxyl ammonium nitrate with an oxidizer developed by the Air Force Research Lab.

Reporting from BGR, on Wednesday, June 12th 2019, this pink fuel is safer than hydrazine if exposed to the skin. If exposed to hydrazine a person can suffer skin irritation or temporary blindness to convulsions or coma. Not to mention organ damage to the liver, kidneys and central nervous system.

To fill rocket fuel using hydrazine, technicians must wear protective equipment including thick gloves, protective clothing to oxygen masks. This alternative fuel also needs to be handled with care but does not require as much protection as its predecessor.

In addition, this new fuel also has many advantages that are not owned by its predecessor, such as fueling can be done when the spacecraft is still being built so as to accelerate the launch process. "Spacecraft can be filled with fuel when manufacturing, simplifying the process at the launch facility, which leads to cost savings" said Prinicipal GPIM Investigator at Christopher McLean's Ball Aerospace.

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