Repsol and PLD Space to jointly develop biofuels for space vehicles

October 24, 2022 |

In Spain, Repsol and PLD Space, the leading European company in the micro-launcher industry, have signed a pioneering collaboration agreement to jointly develop renewable fuels for space vehicles. The agreement includes both feasibility studies to replace current fuels with others produced with sustainable raw materials, as well as the design of new renewable fuels, which will be tailor-made in the Repsol Technology Lab for the rocket propellants manufactured by PLD Space, specifically for the MIURA recoverable micro-launchers. In this way, both companies are making progress towards the European Union’s goal of climate neutrality by 2050.

With this agreement, the two companies are revolutionizing the future of rocket fuels, which currently use liquid kerosene similar to that used in civil aviation, or a specific rocket fuel called RP-1.

Repsol will formulate the new fuels from renewable or recycled raw materials, specifically, from advanced biofuels made from waste as raw material or using synthetic fuels that are produced from renewable hydrogen and CO2 removed from the atmosphere. In this way, a reduction of the carbon footprint of up to 90% or even negative is achieved.

Category: Fuels

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