If reports are to be believed, space scientists are devising a strategy to develop new next-generation rocket engines that will help them to transport mass to Mars as well as Moon.
The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) has been awarded a 5 million dollars grant from NASA to develop rocket engines using liquid methane. The methane-based rocket technology would be used for in-space propulsion and ascent and descent engines for Mars and lunar landers.
Professor and Chair of Mechanical Engineering Dr. Ahsan Choudhuri has recently said that liquid methane, a new form of green propellant, was a promising fuel for spaceships.
This research would be led by UTEP’s NASA-funded Center for Space Exploration and Technology Research (CSETR).
The development of methane rocket engines had been identified as a critically enabling technology in the NASA Space Technology Roadmap.