The Chinese just launched the first methane-powered rocket.

The methane rocket is more environmentally friendly than traditional rocket fuels. Methane is a greenhouse gas that bacteria produce from biowaste. And that thing makes methane a quite cheap fuel for rockets and jet engines. The melting and boiling points of methane are very low, which makes this gas suitable for space operations. If the melting point of gas is too low, it will freeze in space.

The reason why methane is an interesting fuel is that moons like Titan have methane atmospheres. And also, methane can be produced on the same refinery platforms that clean up environmental waste. Methane itself doesn't involve oxygen. And that allows engineers to use that gas in thermal nuclear rockets as well as hydrogen or some other gases.

The thing is that methane is also suitable for use in new types of chemical lasers. Methane lasers can have a similar radiation impact as carbon monoxide lasers. But their efficacy is lower. The fact is that methane is an inflammable gas. And that thing makes it more difficult to handle than carbon dioxide or carbon monoxide lasers.

But in space, the methane lasers can also operate as well as the carbon dioxide lasers in a vacuum. The methane-powered liquid fuel rockets can operate in both civil and military areas. The lasers can be installed in the rocket stage. And in that case, the high-power carbon dioxide and methane lasers can get their energy from acetylene light.

Those large lasers can operate in long-range communications as well as anti-satellite roles, and they can destroy high-flying objects. When we think about the kilometer-long chemical lasers, those systems are powerful enough to burn houses from the orbiter.

The accuracy of those systems is far higher than that of some other systems. And in some doomsday visions, the high-power orbital lasers can shoot single people from the streets. The system can use quadcopters or high-resolution image reconnaissance satellites to locate the target. Then the laser system can aim at that point.

This is the reason why we should consider the Chinese attempts to build a kilometer-long space station. Those extremely powerful lasers can be installed in that structure. And the laser systems can get their energy from solar panels.

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