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Researchers led by NASA's former chief technologist are hoping to launch a satellite carrying water as the source of its fuel. The team from Cornell University, guided by Mason Peck, want their device to become the first shoebox-sized "CubeSat" to orbit the moon, while demonstrating the potential of water as a source of spacecraft fuel. It's a safe, stable substance that's relatively common even in space, but could also find greater use here on Earth as we search for alternatives to fossil fuels.
Water is a way around this issue because it is essentially an energy carrier rather than a fuel. The Cornell team isn't planning to use water itself as a propellant but to rather use electricity from solar panels to split the water into hydrogen and oxygen and use them as the fuel. The two gasses, when recombined and ignited will burn or explode, giving out the energy that they took in during the splitting process. This combustion of gasses can be used to drive the satellite forward, gaining speed or altering its position in orbit of whichever desired planet or moon is the target.
Solar panels, with high reliability and no moving parts, are ideally suited to operate in zero gravity and in the extreme environments of space, producing current from sunlight and allowing the satellite to actively engage on its mission. Traditionally this energy is stored in batteries. But the Cornell scientists want to use it to create their fuel source by splitting the on-board water.
Source: http://phys.org/news/2016-09-space-rocket-fuel-power-revolution.html
(Score: 3, Interesting) by edIII on Thursday September 29 2016, @08:32PM
I remember that there is an aluminum/gallium process for hydrogen production from water that allows you store the hydrogen safely. No metal hydrides or anything else is required for storing hydrogen. The hydrogen is produced on demand by introducing water into the Al/Ga chamber which results in oxygen forming an oxide with aluminum, and the hydrogen being released. The gallium acts as a "catalyst" (iirc) that prevents the reaction from stopping and allows it to continue until either the aluminum or water is exhausted.
The only caveat about the process is that you require considerable amounts of energy to reclaim the Al/Ga through standard processing that removes the oxygen. If we improve the reclamation process, we have a method of both transporting water for energy storage, and extracting out hydrogen as needed. Safely.
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by aristarchus on Thursday September 29 2016, @08:41PM
But if the oxygen is bonded to the Al, what are you going to use to combust the hydrogen? Are you thinking terrestially, where you have access to things like an atmosphere? What is so difficult about solar electrolysis?
(Score: 2) by requerdanos on Thursday September 29 2016, @09:08PM
Well, I think the problem with it is that is not all that difficult, but the energy you get from it is proportional to the effort put in.
Consider the following:
Energy "a" released from the Sun on a small area -> photocell with significant ineffeciency -> electrolyzer that frees up hydrogen -> hydrogen with stored energy "b"
The problems with this stem from the facts that (1) "b" is much, much smaller than "a", and (2) "a" was not all that big to begin with.
It's like having almost nothing, and turning it into the limit of nothing as it approaches zero, but in a conveniently portable form.
(Score: 2) by edIII on Thursday September 29 2016, @09:35PM
I hadn't thought beyond the production of hydrogen to be honest, and yes terrestrially. Thanks for pointing that out.
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 1) by nitehawk214 on Friday September 30 2016, @05:07AM
Hell with electrolysis. Thermally split water:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_splitting#Solar-thermal [wikipedia.org]
"Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh
(Score: 3, Funny) by aristarchus on Friday September 30 2016, @06:27AM
Wow! Who knew there were so many ways to split water? I am partial, however, to "Water splitting by Iridium complexes", because Iridium, as we all know, is the primary material used to tip the nibs of fountain pens. And the inks used by fountain pens are almost entirely water. So do we have an energy source, and an output of good literature?