To the moo-n: cow dung fuels Japan's space ambitions

Japan's space industry opened potentially a new chapter on Thursday with a start-up testing a prototype rocket engine that runs on fuel from cow dung.

The experiment saw the engine blast out a blue-and-orange flame 10-15 metres horizontally out of an open hangar door for around 10 seconds.  The liquid "biomethane" required was made entirely from gas derived from cow manure from two local dairy farms, according to space startup firm Interstellar Technologies. 

Interstellar, which hopes to be able to put satellites in space using the fuel, teamed up with industrial gas producer firm Air Water. It works with local farmers who have equipment on their farms to process their cow dung into biogas which Air Water collects and turns into the rocket fuel.