Terran 1 Burns Methalox
Image Credit:
Relativity /
John Kraus
Relativity's Terran 1 Rocket is mostly 3D-printed.
It burns a cryogenic rocket fuel composed of
liquid methane and liquid oxygen (methalox).
In this close-up of a
Terran 1 launch
on the night of March 22
from Cape Canaveral,
icy chunks fall through the stunning frame as intense blue exhaust
streams from its nine Aeon 1 engines.
In a largely successful flight
the inovative rocket achieved
main engine cutoff and stage separation
but fell short of orbit after an anomaly
at the beginning of its second stage flight.
Of course this Terran 1 rocket was never intended to
travel to Mars.
Still, the methane and liquid oxygen components of its
methalox fuel
can be made solely from materials
found on the Red Planet.
Methalox
manufactured on Mars
could be used as fuel for rockets returning to planet Earth.