3 ms·
Wikipedia[1] cites a 2010 study that gives a boiloff rate of 0.1% per day for hydrolox. Not sure if it would be less for pure LOX. Methane would remain stable s
by pharke 5y ago
Wikipedia[1] cites a 2010 study that gives a boiloff rate of 0.1% per day for hydrolox. Not sure if it would be less for pure LOX. Methane would remain stable so I wonder if there's a way you could balance the fuel load so that you can deliver only methane on some of the trips and then all the LOX in one trip to avoid having it hang around in orbit.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propellant_depot#Feasibility_of_propellant_depots https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propellant_depot#Feasibility_o...
- laverya 5y agoOxygen is the vast majority of the propellant mass, I'm afraid. Methalox is CH4+2O2->CO2+2H2O, so you need 4 Oxygen atoms for every Carbon atom (with Hydrogen being a rounding error).