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UN banned Apollo Fusion's business model of using mercury rocket propellant to launch satellites into space (spectrum.ieee.org)

submitted 10 months ago by L4s@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world

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UN banned Apollo Fusion's business model of using mercury rocket propellant to launch satellites into space::Startup Apollo Fusion was building thrusters that could have contaminated the upper atmosphere with the toxic metal

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[–] lemann@lemmy.dbzer0.com 46 points 10 months ago (7 children)

It's a bit shitty that anyone would even think of doing this to begin with IMO, especially considering that mercury's harmful nature is no secret!

Mercury is otherwise found as a by-product of other processes, such as the burning of coal

Actually susprised that it's even viable to use a byproduct of burning something else as a fuel

Apollo Fusion [...] insisted that the composition of its propellant mixture should be considered confidential information.

Good thing it wasn't considered in this scenario. Racing fuel using nitrous oxide and whatever is one thing, but spraying mercury everywhere into the atmosphere with a rocket honestly sounds like a sick joke

"[...] It would give you a competitive advantage in what I imagine is a pretty tight, competitive market"

Launching rockets is a competitive market? TIL, I thought there were only a handful of companies operating with very generous margins

[–] SomeoneSomewhere@lemmy.nz 15 points 10 months ago (1 children)

There's been various desktop-grade plans regarding use of nuclear rockets, both in the atmosphere and not. Never underestimate what engineers can come up with.

I think what they were trying to argue is that the mercury emitted would be no worse than the mercury already emitted as a byproduct of power plants.

Most rocket operators/manufacturers run on razor thin margins or at a loss, sustained by state subsidies or wishful venture capitalists.

[–] lemann@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 10 months ago

I completely forgot about coal power plants 🤦‍♂️ now it makes sense as to why mercury was even considered a viable rocket fuel.

Very interesting, thanks for the info!

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