5 ms·
I wonder what peak concentration can be reached by cycling pure water through a micro-sprayer. I'd be skeptical if this could make rocket fuel, but it would be
by cwkoss 7y ago
I wonder what peak concentration can be reached by cycling pure water through a micro-sprayer. I'd be skeptical if this could make rocket fuel, but it would be extremely cool if it could.
Turning ice asteroids into usable fuel would make space much more accessible.
- mehrdadn 7y agoRocket fuel... I assume you mean hydrazine? You need more than just water/hydrogen peroxide for that right? (Like ammonia?)
- detaro 7y agoconcentrated hydrogen peroxide, if exposed to a catalyst splitting it up again, makes viable a viable thrust source for rockets.
- blacksqr 7y agoRight, spray it through a platinum screen, and oxygen gas is liberated.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- avmich 7y agoSilver screen would work too. Iron oxide would work... Many other substances would catalyze peroxide with various degrees of efficiency.
- liability 7y agoI'm not sure what modern peroxide rockets use, but the steam generator in the V2 used sodium or potassium permanganate.
- magicalhippo 7y agoFor an in-depth and interesting explanation of how that works, I enjoyed this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgiMu8A3pi0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgiMu8A3pi0 Includes a demonstration of the potassium permanganate and hydrogen peroxide at around the 52 minute mark.
- Robotbeat 7y agoIndeed. Used today for the attitude control thrusters on the Soyuz reentry capsule and as a monopropellant for the gas generators on the Soyuz booster rocket.
- tim333 7y agoAnd for motorcycles https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oV-GW4O4bI&feature=youtu.be&t=328 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oV-GW4O4bI&feature=youtu.be...
- cobalt 7y agohydrazine is N2H4 -- a different fuel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-test_peroxide https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-test_peroxide
- gmanley 7y agoI took rocket fuel to just mean fuel rockets use. Some of these include highly refined kerosene (RP-1), methane, hydrogen and yes, hydrazine. The point was to ask if these microdoplets could be used to propel a rocket.
- gpm 7y agoIf you can get low concentration H202 you can get dangerously high concentration H202 by applying a fan (H20 evaporates faster). One suspects that electrolysis to get H2 + O2 would produce more rocket fuel with less energy. It's a much more direct process.
- hinkley 7y agoMight still have applications for cogeneration though.