Air Force & NASA Fire Off Green Rocket 157
coondoggie writes "NASA and the Air Force said today they had successfully launched a 9-ft. rocket 1,300 feet into the sky, powered by aluminum powder and water ice. This combination of fuel elements, referred to as ALICE, has the potential to replace some liquid or solid propellants. The technology is being developed at Purdue University and Pennsylvania State University. Aside from its environmental benefiits, ALICE has the advantage that it could be manufactured in far-away places, such as the moon or Mars, instead of being transported to distant horizons at great cost, researchers said."
Re:Ethical question (Score:3, Interesting)
Not for a million years, no. Pretty sure the Earth is capable of that. Come back when you've got nine nine's probability of success on 10 billion years, and we'll talk =)
Aluminum powder is green? (Score:4, Interesting)
In what universe is powdered aluminum "greener" than a hydrogen/oxygen rocket? Even hydrazine burns to an inert end product if I remember my chemistry right (no guarantees there), aluminum is anything but inert.
seen something similar to this before (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Ethical question (Score:3, Interesting)
I grant that Davy omitted the second i, but people like regularity - especially in regular structures like the Periodic Table. The extra letter has been added, so far as it has, by popular demand,
But not for Molybdenum or Tantalum, curiously...