Life Cycle Assessment: Green Rocket Fuel

Paper number

IAC-09.C4.3.11

Author

Ms. Heather Henry, Canada

Year

2009

Abstract

The increasing need for sustainability has lead to policy changes and environmentally friendly engineering solutions throughout the space sector. What is needed now is a way to quantify these solutions in a way that promotes sustainability throughout the industry. Specifically, in the area of propulsion where ‘green’ fuels are being developed and tested, guidelines are needed to make and quantify the progress.

This paper discusses the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) approach in sustainability as it relates to rocket fuel. It outlines the need for the development of such a system to help the space industry in qualifying the complete environmental impact of the use of a given fuel. As a comparison, the automotive industry is used because of its use comprehensive use of LCA analysis in environmental evaluation of both fuels and vehicles. Acknowledging the challenges unique to the space industry, this paper also addresses how sustainable engineering could contribute to the life cycle development of green fuel.

While the development of green fuel would help to increase the sustainability of the space sector, the need for reliability and performance is paramount because of the role fuel plays during any mission. The challenges of testing and validating launch fuel are discussed and the impact that this would have on the development of green fuels is outlined. The life cycle design approach looks not only at the types of fuels used but also at the processes used to make them thus allowing for the same fuels to be used in a more sustainable manner.

The use of LCA for rocket fuel is concluded to be a good method for both helping to design environmental objectives and for comparing the overall environmental impact of fuels. The proposal of such an approach is new to the development of rocket fuel bus has been used effectively in other industries. The LCA is suggested to allow for the development of green fuel in a more productive and unified fashion. 

Abstract document

IAC-09.C4.3.11.pdf

Manuscript document

(absent)