28.06.2022
Launch goes green with Spaceport hydrogen plan
ESA, the French space agency CNES and a group of industrial and academic partners have set in motion an ambitious plan to slash CO2 emissions associated with orbital launches, by establishing infrastructure to underpin a hydrogen economy supporting Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana.
The project – known as HYGUANE (HYdrogène GUyanais A Neutralité Environnementale) – aims to establish a pilot plant within the Spaceport capable of producing 130 tonnes per year of so-called green hydrogen, with the goal of dramatically reducing Spaceport greenhouse gas emissions.
Key to the scheme is to replace “grey” hydrogen – produced by a widely used but CO2-intensive industrial process known as methanol steam reforming – with “green” hydrogen produced by water electrolysis from renewable energy. That green hydrogen, used to fuel rockets, will reduce CO2 emissions linked to the Ariane programme by several thousand tonnes per year.