AIR&D Case Study 001: AIRMADE® Rocket Fuel
One of AIR&D’s current focus areas is CO₂-derived rocket fuel, leveraging the core AIRMADE™ Technology that produces paraffins and aromatics (for our synthetic aviation fuel) and tuning it toward performance characteristics necessary for rocket fuel.
We’re doing this work in partnership with NASA (if you remember, we’ve worked with them before on sugars and proteins) and are now collaborating on a data-driven program focused on characterizing the fuel—examining its freezing behavior, thermal stability, material compatibility, and handling in extreme conditions.
Why rocket fuel? There are a few reasons.
- Strategic supply. Rocket fuels, such as RP-1 (rocket-grade kerosene), are specialty products produced by only a handful of qualified suppliers.
- Dual-use chemistry. The same ingredients used to make jet fuel are used to create fuels like RP-1, making this a natural next step for AIRMADE®.
- Off-world logic. On Mars, you have CO₂ in abundance as the Martian atmosphere is approximately 95% CO2. NASA’s MOXIE has already demonstrated in-situ oxygen (O2) production from that CO₂, and so airing O2 with CO₂-derived fuels is the next logical step for future missions.
This AIR&D work is enabling us to lay the groundwork for scalable, modular fuel solutions. It represents more than creating a new fuel from CO₂—it’s about opening pathways for exploration and building the fuel systems that will power progress on Earth and beyond.
