3 ms·
Collect a water-ice asteroid or cometary nucleus or some such, park it in orbit, and electrolyse it. I'm not aware of a less outlandish plan! Now, if you want
by twic 6y ago
Collect a water-ice asteroid or cometary nucleus or some such, park it in orbit, and electrolyse it.
I'm not aware of a less outlandish plan!
Now, if you want oxidiser, you could skim air off the top of the earth's atmosphere. I have no idea if that has been considered outside of science fiction [1], though.
[1] okay, here they're skimming nitrogen, but: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallen_Angels_(science_fiction_novel) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallen_Angels_(science_fiction...
- Turing_Machine 6y agoIf you were electrolyzing water ice, wouldn't you get both hydrogen (fuel) and oxygen (oxidizer), by definition?
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- twic 6y agoYes. But if you only wanted oxidiser, you could skip the awkward "capture a cometary nucleus" step by scooping air. Since oxygen is much heavier than hydrogen, this could save you a lot in mass launched from the Earth.
- m4rtink 6y agoAlso if you had enough power (solar or possibly nuclear) you could use the captured gases directly for slightly inefficient propulsion by heating them NERVA style or accelerating them by a modifiedion engine. I remember some concepts for very low altitude satellites that compensate for drag by running a solar powered ion ramjet. :)