On Thursday (Dec 7), Japan’s space industry started a potentially udder-ly new chapter with a start-up testing a prototype rocket engine that operates only on fuel generated entirely from an abundant local source: cow poo.
For around 10 seconds, the engine sent a blue-and-orange flame 10-15 meters (30-50 feet) horizontally out of an open hangar door in the remote northern town of Taiki, Hokkaido.
According to Interstellar Technologies CEO Takahiro Inagawa, the liquid “biomethane” needed was created solely from gas obtained from cow excrement from two nearby dairy farms. “We are doing this not just because it is good for the environment but because it can be produced locally, it is very cost effective, and it is a fuel with high performance and high purity,” Inagawa said.
“I do not think it is an exaggeration to assume this will be replicated …all over the world,” he was quoted as saying. “We are the first private business to do this.” Interstellar has joined up with industrial gas supplier Air Water in the goal of utilizing the fuel to launch satellites into space. It collaborates with local farmers who have equipment on their fields that converts cow manure into biogas, which Air Water gathers and converts into rocket fuel.
Resource-poor According to Tomohiro Nishikawa, an engineer at Air Water, Japan “must secure domestically produced, carbon-neutral energy now.” “The raw material derived from this region’s cows has enormous potential.” Should anything happen in international relations, it is critical that Japan has an energy supply on hand,” he stressed.
JAXA, Japan’s space agency, launched its “Moon Sniper” mission in September, but the sector has been beset by issues in recent years, with two unsuccessful missions — one public and one private. Japan has also had problems with its launch rockets, with disasters following the launch of the next-generation H3 in March and the generally dependable solid-fuel Epsilon in October. In July, an Epsilon S rocket, an enhanced variant of the Epsilon, exploded 50 seconds after ignition.
Biogas made from cow dung is already being utilized as a fuel source across the globe, notably to power buses in the Indian city of Indore rather from more polluting conventional sources. It also helps to reduce agriculture’s environmental impact.
Air Water’s biomethane is already being utilized as a pilot program by a local dairy and other enterprises, to heat local homes, and to power vehicles and ships.
Eiji Mizushita, 58, is one of the participating local farmers. He has 900 milk cows that produce about 40 tons (80,000 pounds) of manure every day. His farm includes an industrial system that collects garbage mechanically, ferments it, and converts it into biogas, fertilizer, and regenerated bedding materials for his animals. Mizushita’s income increases by only 1% as a result of biogas sales, but he believes the effort is worthwhile.
“I’m very excited to think that our cow waste could be used to make it fly,” he remarked of the rocket. “We must properly dispose of and utilize manure.” I also believe that the government and society should give natural renewable energy a higher priority and stimulate its creation.”
