Elon Musk became the richest man in the world thanks to enthusiasm for Tesla Inc.’s sleek electric cars — and the company’s stratospheric stock price. But while Musk is perhaps the most well known clean energy CEO, SpaceX, his other company, is likely to rely on drilling for natural gas to power Starship, the new spacecraft and rocket designed to carry humans to the moon, Mars and beyond.
Musk’s SpaceX aims to use a site in South Texas to launch rockets to carry people and cargo to the moon and Mars. To do that, the company intends to drill gas wells to make its own fuel and electricity, according a Federal Aviation Administration document seen by Bloomberg.
Musk has long derided the oil industry, touting renewable energy and electric vehicles as the keys to averting a climate catastrophe. But the FAA document and SpaceX’s comments to Texas regulators show how, at least in the short term, some of his goals will depend on plans for fossil-fuel extraction that are already drawing criticism from environmental groups.
While Musk has said he ultimately aims to extract carbon from the atmosphere to produce fuel, a cost-effective method of doing so hasn’t been developed yet. The billionaire is donating $100 million toward a prize for the “best carbon capture technology.”
The SpaceX site in Texas will be supplied by at least five nearby gas wells, along with two gas-fired power plants, according to the FAA document. Purified gas from the wells will be pumped into refrigeration equipment that turns it into liquid methane, the document shows. The methane can be combined with liquid oxygen and other compounds to make rocket fuel.