New way to transport fuel in spaceships.

in Popular STEM7 days ago

New way to transport fuel in spaceships.



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Something that is little talked about about reaching Mars is the possibility of discovering that the tank is empty upon getting there, no chance of returning, no plan B, only the silence of deep space in response, it may seem absurd, but that was a real risk until now.


NASA tested a technology so essential for the rockets that propel us. a space “super fridge” capable of preserving the most volatile fuels in the universe for years and without it the whole idea of a manned mission to Mars was doomed to failure.


This technological revolution occurs at a critical point in space travel, the storage of cryogenic fuel, liquid hydrogen, liquid oxygen, super-cooled methane, these are the essential ingredients to keep a ship moving, especially when it is transporting something as valuable as a human crew, but all these fuels boil even in the cold of space and when they begin to evaporate inside the tanks it is like watching the only hope of return slowly disappear.




To solve this, NASA creates a cooling system called two caps or tube inside the tank, tested at the Marshall Space Center in Alabama, the idea is brilliant, two circuits of liquid ice circulate in different layers around the fuel tank, creating a kind of thermal cocoon that blocks the heat. In the first stage, tubes containing helium at -253º surround the fuel tank itself, keeping it cold enough so that the liquid remains stable.


The second stage uses a less cold helium at -183 degrees strategically placed to intercept the heat before it reaches the tank, the result, a true cryogenic fortress where the fuel can be maintained for years without loss, without risk of explosion and with zero evaporation, something that until recently was considered impossible.


The impact of this innovation is profound, with this technology, manned missions to Mars cease to be a dream and become viable, the margin of error is reduced, the amount of fuel required decreases and the autonomy of the mission increases, this not only opens the way to round trips to the red planet, but also to permanent bases on the Moon, orbital stations and future mining missions on asteroids, in addition, cryogenic technologies like these could be adapted for use on Earth, such as in energy storage systems, gas transportation industrial, and even in medicine, where precise temperature control can save lives.





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