Air Products to Supply Low-Carbon Liquid Hydrogen for Ariane 6 Rocket Tests

Industrial gas major Air Products will supply low-carbon liquid hydrogen for ground tests of launch engines used in European Space Agency (ESA) missions.

The company signed a three-year agreement to supply French aerospace space firm ArianeGroup with the lower-carbon gas for ground tests of cryogenic engines used to launch space missions.

>> In Other News: Pure DC’s A Healthier Earth Subsidiary Launches World’s First Integrated Carbon Removal Platform From the Data Centre Sector

Volumes covered by the contracts have not been disclosed. H2 View has contacted Air Products for confirmation.

ArianeGroup is the lead contractor for the Ariane 6 European launcher for the ESA, which uses liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen as fuel for its main and upper stages.

Ariane 6 has seen two launches to date from the European Spaceport in French Guiana, where liquid hydrogen is sourced from local steam reforming of methanol.

In a press statement, the company said the deal reflected the “increasing focus across the sector on lower-carbon ground operations.”

Air Products stated that hydrogen would be sourced through its network and liquefied at its facility in the Port of Rotterdam, where it is currently installing new liquefaction capacity to meet demand in electronics, space applications, and industrial processing.

In the US, the industrial gas firm has had a long history of supplying hydrogen for NASA missions. Most recently, it supplied 700,000 gallons of liquid hydrogen for the Artemis II mission.

Specific sources of the low-carbon hydrogen covered by the European deal remain unclear. However, Air Products’ 300-tonne-per-day HyCO4 grey hydrogen plant in Rotterdam is currently being equipped with carbon capture technology that could cut around 50% of its carbon dioxide emissions.

The carbon capture unit is due online in 2026, with carbon dioxide from the facility set to be fed into the Porthos CO2 network for permanent storage under the North Sea.