Things To Know Regarding Propellant Depots And Their Functions
Propellants are chemical substances used in pressurized gas or production of energy which are for generating propulsion of objects like projectiles and vehicles. They are commonly energetic materials consisting of fuel like oxidizer, rocket or jet fuels and gasoline. These produce gas by burning or decomposing but others are liquids that could be vaporized.
They are used by aircraft and rockets in producing exhausted material or gas being expelled through nozzle in creating thrust. This material can either be gas, plasma or liquid, and solid, gel or liquid before chemical reaction had happened. These are then cached into propellant depots in orbit around Earth letting spacecrafts refuel there when needed.
This allows launching of spacecrafts from Earth without carrying all the required fuel making more available area for hardware storage. This will potentially make completing the mission much easier because the needed items could be sent by having fewer launches. They would function like gas stations on space to refuel some journeying vehicles.
Defense ministries, space agencies, communications satellites and commercial companies are users of the technology potentially. Lifetime of satellites which nearly consumed all their fuel in orbital maneuvering and were placed on geosynchronous orbit would be extended. The depot would have to access the satellite and vice versa.
These depots are in low earth orbit and primarily functions as a provider of propellant to transfer stage headed towards moon or Mars. Using smaller launch vehicles is now possible increasing the flight rates because they would cost lesser. A depot can be placed also at Lagrange point 1 or in orbit of Mars which reduces the travel costs.
Propellants take a large portion in the total mass of the rockets during the launch and some advantages are there when depots are used. Less structural mass requirement for spacecrafts because tankers can serve, if reusable, as second stage or launched unfueled. This will create a refueling market on orbit where the prices would go down because of competitions in delivering them.
Some engineering design issues for depots are there that were not tested yet in orbit servicing or space missions. These issues do include usage in reboost and attitude, requirements in reduced boiloff facilities, refrigeration equipment maturity, and settling and transfer. Transferring the fuels are difficult because these places have no gravity and liquids have a tendency in floating away from inlet.
Refilling must be done by the operators of a particular tanker through launching tanker rockets which are filled with the new fuel. Rather than becoming owners, most space agencies prefer being purchasers instead so these facilities will be operated privately probably by commercial companies. Short range tugs with chemical propulsion might be used to simplify rockets and vehicles docking.
More research and trials are still being done by agencies to properly determine the feasibility of these projects. More commercial companies are becoming interested with this technology because their interests in taking advantage of this new market. It would make their plans for space tourism more possible and achievable in a shorter time when these trials are successful.
They are used by aircraft and rockets in producing exhausted material or gas being expelled through nozzle in creating thrust. This material can either be gas, plasma or liquid, and solid, gel or liquid before chemical reaction had happened. These are then cached into propellant depots in orbit around Earth letting spacecrafts refuel there when needed.
This allows launching of spacecrafts from Earth without carrying all the required fuel making more available area for hardware storage. This will potentially make completing the mission much easier because the needed items could be sent by having fewer launches. They would function like gas stations on space to refuel some journeying vehicles.
Defense ministries, space agencies, communications satellites and commercial companies are users of the technology potentially. Lifetime of satellites which nearly consumed all their fuel in orbital maneuvering and were placed on geosynchronous orbit would be extended. The depot would have to access the satellite and vice versa.
These depots are in low earth orbit and primarily functions as a provider of propellant to transfer stage headed towards moon or Mars. Using smaller launch vehicles is now possible increasing the flight rates because they would cost lesser. A depot can be placed also at Lagrange point 1 or in orbit of Mars which reduces the travel costs.
Propellants take a large portion in the total mass of the rockets during the launch and some advantages are there when depots are used. Less structural mass requirement for spacecrafts because tankers can serve, if reusable, as second stage or launched unfueled. This will create a refueling market on orbit where the prices would go down because of competitions in delivering them.
Some engineering design issues for depots are there that were not tested yet in orbit servicing or space missions. These issues do include usage in reboost and attitude, requirements in reduced boiloff facilities, refrigeration equipment maturity, and settling and transfer. Transferring the fuels are difficult because these places have no gravity and liquids have a tendency in floating away from inlet.
Refilling must be done by the operators of a particular tanker through launching tanker rockets which are filled with the new fuel. Rather than becoming owners, most space agencies prefer being purchasers instead so these facilities will be operated privately probably by commercial companies. Short range tugs with chemical propulsion might be used to simplify rockets and vehicles docking.
More research and trials are still being done by agencies to properly determine the feasibility of these projects. More commercial companies are becoming interested with this technology because their interests in taking advantage of this new market. It would make their plans for space tourism more possible and achievable in a shorter time when these trials are successful.
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posted by Vittoria @ August 05, 2017
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