2023-12-07 11:25:05
(Taiki) Japan potentially opened a new chapter in its space history on Thursday with the successful test of a rocket engine powered solely by locally produced energy: cow dung.
Posted at 6:25 a.m.
Hiroshi HIYAMA
Agence France-Presse
This test saw an engine propel a blue and orange flame horizontally about ten meters for a few seconds through the open door of a hangar in the town of Taiki, on the northern island of Hokkaido.
The liquid biomethane needed for the experiment was made from “contributions” from cattle from two local dairy producers, explains Takahiro Inagawa, head of the Japanese company Interstellar Technologies.
“We’re doing this not only because it’s good for the environment, but also because it can be produced locally, it’s very cost-effective and it’s a high-performance, high-purity fuel.” , Mr. Inagawa told AFP.
“We are the first private company to do this,” he adds. “I don’t think it’s a stretch to think that this will be replicated around the world. »
Interstellar hopes to send satellites into space using the fuel, and has partnered with industrial gas producer Air Water, which works with local farmers who have equipment to turn cow dung into biogas.
“Japan, poor in resources, must now secure a carbon-neutral energy source on its territory,” said Tomohiro Nishikawa, an engineer from the Japanese industrial gas group Air Water.
“The raw material from cows in this region has enormous potential. If the international situation were to evolve, it is important for Japan to have such a source of energy, according to him.
Air Water’s biomethane is already used by a local dairy and other factories, to heat homes and to power trucks and ships in pilot programs.
900 cattle at work
The Japanese space agency Jaxa successfully launched its “Moon Sniper” lunar mission in September, but the Japanese aerospace sector has been plagued by numerous problems in recent years, with two failed missions.
Japan has also experienced setbacks with its launchers, with the failures to take off the new generation H3 rocket or the small Epsilon-6 rocket from Jaxa.
Biogas derived from cow dung is already used as fuel around the world, including to run buses in the Indian city of Indore, in place of more polluting conventional sources.
It helps mitigate the enormous environmental footprint of agriculture, which Greenpeace estimates is responsible for 14% of global greenhouse gas emissions.
If the combustion of biogas releases greenhouse gases, this is also the case during its natural degradation process, with runoff from livestock farming also polluting soil and waterways.
The 900 cattle of Eiji Mizushita, 58, alone generate more than 40 tonnes of dung daily, and this project participant has set up a system that automatically collects the production of his animals, ferments them and transforms them into biogas , fertilizer and even bedding for his animals.
“I am happy to think that the waste from our animals is used to make” a rocket fly, rejoices Mr. Mizushita.
“We need to get rid of manure by using it properly. I also think that the government and society in general should have another look at the importance of renewable energy and encourage its production,” he continues.
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