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Once in space, does it not make more sense to split water into hydrogen and oxygen using solar energy and use that as fuel?
by 7373737373 6y ago
Once in space, does it not make more sense to split water into hydrogen and oxygen using solar energy and use that as fuel?
- callamdelaney 6y agoPerhaps, but the intended purpose of these is to actually help get the payload to space.
- aphextron 6y agoAt that point it would be far more efficient to just skip the electrolysis, fill your spacecraft with xenon, and use the solar power for ion propulsion. No need for an oxidant when you have sufficient electrical power, so a large portion of the water's mass would be dead weight.
- marcosdumay 6y agoWater is certainly cheaper and easier to handle than xenon. But the company's site claims a "3x increase in efficiency" (WTF that is), so I guess they didn't manage to get any high isp.
- simonh 6y agoYou would generate the fuel extremely slowly so would have to wait ages between brief burns for thrust. But why settle for the Isp of a hydrolox engine, when you can have the efficiency of an ion it hall thruster?