I don’t know about you, but my first reaction to the title of this video was to head straight for my freezer and some Reynolds Wrap. Unfortunately, it’s a little more complicated than that.
A team of scientists from Purdue, Penn State, NASA, and the Air Force have collaborated on the ALICE (ALuminum-ICE) Project, which makes rocket propellant out of a frozen mixture of water and nanoscale aluminum powder. The ultimate goal is for the more environmentally-friendly fuel to be used on long-distance space missions, but for now it’s excellent for videos of rockets taking off (starting at 4:00). [Purdue University via MAKE]
