Chinese Startup Aims to Launch Rockets Using Carbon Dioxide

A Chinese aerospace start-up plans to launch a rocket using carbon dioxide, the same compound that gives Coca-Cola its fizz and bite.

Hunan-based commercial space firm Zhiyu Aerospace Technology announced on Monday that it was collaborating with another local tech company to apply “supercritical carbon dioxide cold-launch” technology to small launch vehicle systems.

Z-Trak Space, as the company is also known, said the cutting-edge method could “truly achieve low-cost, high-frequency, fast-response commercial launches”.

The new technology uses supercritical carbon dioxide – a fluid state of the gas held at or above its critical temperature and pressure – to generate high-pressure gas that expands instantaneously, effectively ejecting the rocket into the air.

Once the rocket reaches a designated altitude, its engines ignite in mid-air to begin normal flight, ensuring that scorching exhaust fumes never come into contact with the ground platform.

The partnership brings together Z-Trak Space – founded last year in the prefecture-level city Zhuzhou in China’s central Hunan province – and Chiyang Space Power Technology Company, according to a statement by Z-Trak on Tuesday.