Will Starship be the First Methane-Powered Rocket to Fly?

Methane is quickly becoming the new go-to fuel for new rockets. So why is it so popular? We’ll look at why more companies are using methane and oxygen, or methylox, fuels. Plus, which rocket using this new fuel will be the first to make orbit? Here’s the contenders.

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L2 Boca Chica (more clips and photos) from BC's very early days to today.

0:00 Introduction
0:15 Why Methane?
4:30 SpaceX Starship
5:08 ULA Vulcan
5:21 Blue Origin New Glenn
6:48 Relativity Space Terran-1 and Terran-R
7:51 Landspace ZQ-2
8:56 CNSA Chang Zheng 9
9:29 Our Prediction
9:46 Brilliant

[kevinkrammer]

There could also be a difference between "who will first attempt orbital flight" and "who will first reach orbit".
A lot of rockets needed several attempts before they successfully reached orbit

[estraume]

Another convenient fact: When liquid methane and liquid oxygen is pressurized to a few bar pressure like in Starship, both propellants are liquid at the same pressure and temperature conditions, which makes handling them easier than some of the other fuel and oxidizer combinations.

[squeaksquawk]

I asked this in a livestream. Thank you for looking deeper into this!

[ilmanfakhrizky]

Zhuque-2 is the first rocket powered by methane that mangae to get into orbit

[lesumsi]

Now, that's what I call a space race! So excited to see them all succeed, in whatever order!

[proesterchen]

First to Fly? Well, Starship / Raptor did that years ago. First to orbit? Different story alltogether.

[alanc]

Pretty good video guys. I had actually forgotten about the Chinese rockets and this put them back fresh in my mind.

[-_-hi]

Comparing starship to anything that is not 100% reusable is silly. Starship is in a class of it's own.

[chubstheclown]

First to "fly"? That would be Starship. StarHopper, SN5, SN6, SN8, SN9, SN10, SN11, SN15 all flew. Might want to change it to "first to orbit".

[SteveInPalmSprings]

Another great informative narration Ian. Thank you.

[inkeycat]

Wonderfully informative - as usual. Thanks.

[aDifferentJT]

It’s not in the running for first but Neutron is another methane rocket in development.

[dudermcdudeface]

Bit of an arbitrary category for "first, " lumping together totally unrelated types of rockets. Terran 1 is an expendable small payload launcher; Starship is a reusable ultra-heavy-lift and by far the most powerful rocket ever built. Saying the two are competing for anything is like saying someone building a birdhouse is competing with someone building the world's tallest skyscraper because they both plan to use a novel material.

[JeffDM]

4:38 "while Starship technically launched before, we're only counting orbital flight attempts"
I'd still put "orbit" in the video title. It's not too late.

[farmerpete]

I wish the commentary would say'proposed' or 'estimated' instead 'can, is able, will' etc when referring to rockets that have yet to fly, or engines that have yet to fly.

[walkinhere]

good thing we'll get first hand and in-depth knowledge of the chinese rockets when it lands on your house.

[rolfjacobson]

thank you so much. i have needed to know why methane. you made it very understandable. well done

[nicholaswestbury]

The music and the sound of his voice, soothed me to sleep. I had to keep fighting to stay awake for the end!

[D_Rogers]

Hmmmm.. who to bet on...??.. :)
Well, if I eliminate those who have no hardware yet, and just show CGI..
It's between Terran 1 and Starship..
So I guess I'd bet on the company that goes to space every month, over the one yet to reach orbit...
I'm not exactly a wild gambler.. :D

[EVBud]

Starhopper was the first to launch and land with methane.