Hot! Successful firing of the first Methane-Oxygen rocket engine.
link | The 7,500 lbf engine is the first of its kind, as methane-oxygen (a fuel-oxidizer combination superior to those currently in use today) has long been ignored by large aerospace companies and NASA as having too much “technology risk.”
… methane-oxygen will be the method of choice for future Mars explorers, as they will be able to utilize indigenous resources (the atmosphere) to create a great deal of methane from a small hydrogen feedstock. Robert Zubrin, founder of The Mars Society, has proven this feasible (study pdf).
that’s hot
I saw this picture with no context earlier today and my first thought was “ooh, death ray!”