Speaker
Description
European Space Agency (ESA) has previously established life cycle data for life stages up to launch. In this work we extend the previous ESA LCA data and present complete life cycle assessment of several current propellants, including propellant chemical production, loading and launch stage emissions with impacts to climate change and ozone depletion. CEARUN was used to estimate launch stage emissions. The life cycle performance of RP-1/LOx, LH2/LOx, CH4/LOx, UDMH/NTO and solid ammonium perchlorate composite propellant (APCP) is benchmarked per specific impulse. Results clearly show the importance of including emissions both before and during launch, e.g., production stage emissions dominate for climate change emissions from hydrogen and UDMH, and launch emissions from APCP overrule any other contribution to ozone depletion. Some of the propellants carry climate cooling effects through emissions of reflective particulates, while others contribute to increased radiative forcing by emission of black carbon. We make emission forecasts from global launch rates towards 2050, to project climate change emissions (GWP100) and ozone depletion, and findings from these underline the importance of the ongoing shift towards certain propellants. We conclude that, under some conditions, hydrogen and methane appear good candidates for the future. Results have been submitted to a relevant journal.
