Since NASA is intent performing a recreation of the Apollo Program, but
with a much more ambitious goal of going further, much further than a week
away from Earth. What will Orion-13 look like? After a highly improbable
large chunk of rock smashes through all the layers of the Whipple Shield
and into the Primary Oxygen Tank creating a 100 cm diameter hole.
Eerily the same, yet it's not, as the Astronaut exits the airlock door on
her way to assess the damage. First glimpse of massive two meter man sized
hole in the Whipple Shied doesn't bode well for things to come. It only
gets worst as she peers through the hole into the cavernous but now empty
tank. The fear within begins to build as the realization that it may not be
a sensor glitch in Secondary Tank, the only backup for the long burn ahead
at Mars to return to Earth. Pierced by a piece of debris from Primary Tank,
it too is now empty. Sealing their fate to a life expectancy of less than
six months.
Or, does the rock smash through all the layer of the Sun Shield and into
the blob of oxygen stored tankless like frozen like block of concrete
reinforce with a web of carbon fiber to add strength but not weight. The
Astronaut discovers that they have only lots 10% of their Oxygen Supply,
well within their reserves to complete the mission as planned. Nothing a
little Duct Tape won't fix.
On Thu, Jun 14, 2018 at 9:40 AM Craig Fink <webegood@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Craig Fink
The issue about storage without a container really has to do with the
physical property of "vapor pressure". Will the solid hydrogen sublime away
or not. Figure 44 on Page 5-48 of the reference I gave shows vapor pressure
are off the chart on the low side at 3 K for both "Normal" and "Para"
Hydrogen. Solid hydrogen does have a temperature limit where it should be
put back in a bottle to warm up, pick your acceptable vapor pressure and
read the chart.
If an extreme case like Hydrogen can reasonably be stored tankless in
space, then other propellants are even more reasonable to do so. And, may
actually happen after we transition from this one-shot disposable missions
built and launched from Earth to missions that are manufactured and
launched from orbit. The tank is necessary when starting from Earth, but
apparently not Space.
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