A Solar Thermal Steam Propulsion System Using Disassociated Steam for Interplanetary Exploration
Sustainable space exploration will require using off-world resources for propellant generation. Using off-world-generated propellants significantly increases future missions’ range and payload capacity. Near Earth Objects (NEOs) contain a range of available resources, most notably water-ice and hydr...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2024-01-01
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| Series: | Aerospace |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2226-4310/11/1/84 |
| _version_ | 1797344918863085568 |
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| author | Leonard Vance Agustin Espinoza Jorge Martinez Dominguez Salil Rabade Gavin Liu Jekan Thangavelautham |
| author_facet | Leonard Vance Agustin Espinoza Jorge Martinez Dominguez Salil Rabade Gavin Liu Jekan Thangavelautham |
| author_sort | Leonard Vance |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Sustainable space exploration will require using off-world resources for propellant generation. Using off-world-generated propellants significantly increases future missions’ range and payload capacity. Near Earth Objects (NEOs) contain a range of available resources, most notably water-ice and hydrated minerals. However, water-bearing regolith needs to be excavated and the water extracted. Water is a compelling choice for fuel as it is readily available in interplanetary space and easily stored. In this paper, we propose using solar concentrators, which can efficiently convert incident sunlight into heat without the need for moving parts. When water is heated up to 4000 K, a value consistent with high-performance refractive materials, it experiences significant disassociation into H<sub>2</sub>, O<sub>2</sub>, OH, H, and O components, providing a path for adding considerable additional chemical energy per degree of temperature increase, and producing theoretical specific impulse (I<sub>sp</sub>) values in the range of 643 s to 659 s. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-08T11:09:50Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-e2b38ab8980c45319d42f422a9f7ff62 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2226-4310 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-08T11:09:50Z |
| publishDate | 2024-01-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Aerospace |
| spelling | doaj.art-e2b38ab8980c45319d42f422a9f7ff622024-01-26T14:13:55ZengMDPI AGAerospace2226-43102024-01-011118410.3390/aerospace11010084A Solar Thermal Steam Propulsion System Using Disassociated Steam for Interplanetary ExplorationLeonard Vance0Agustin Espinoza1Jorge Martinez Dominguez2Salil Rabade3Gavin Liu4Jekan Thangavelautham5Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering Department, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USAAerospace and Mechanical Engineering Department, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USAAerospace and Mechanical Engineering Department, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USASchool of Energy, Matter and Transport Engineering, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85281, USASchool of Energy, Matter and Transport Engineering, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85281, USAAerospace and Mechanical Engineering Department, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USASustainable space exploration will require using off-world resources for propellant generation. Using off-world-generated propellants significantly increases future missions’ range and payload capacity. Near Earth Objects (NEOs) contain a range of available resources, most notably water-ice and hydrated minerals. However, water-bearing regolith needs to be excavated and the water extracted. Water is a compelling choice for fuel as it is readily available in interplanetary space and easily stored. In this paper, we propose using solar concentrators, which can efficiently convert incident sunlight into heat without the need for moving parts. When water is heated up to 4000 K, a value consistent with high-performance refractive materials, it experiences significant disassociation into H<sub>2</sub>, O<sub>2</sub>, OH, H, and O components, providing a path for adding considerable additional chemical energy per degree of temperature increase, and producing theoretical specific impulse (I<sub>sp</sub>) values in the range of 643 s to 659 s.https://www.mdpi.com/2226-4310/11/1/84small spacecraftISRUsteam disassociationpropulsionsystem design |
| spellingShingle | Leonard Vance Agustin Espinoza Jorge Martinez Dominguez Salil Rabade Gavin Liu Jekan Thangavelautham A Solar Thermal Steam Propulsion System Using Disassociated Steam for Interplanetary Exploration Aerospace small spacecraft ISRU steam disassociation propulsion system design |
| title | A Solar Thermal Steam Propulsion System Using Disassociated Steam for Interplanetary Exploration |
| title_full | A Solar Thermal Steam Propulsion System Using Disassociated Steam for Interplanetary Exploration |
| title_fullStr | A Solar Thermal Steam Propulsion System Using Disassociated Steam for Interplanetary Exploration |
| title_full_unstemmed | A Solar Thermal Steam Propulsion System Using Disassociated Steam for Interplanetary Exploration |
| title_short | A Solar Thermal Steam Propulsion System Using Disassociated Steam for Interplanetary Exploration |
| title_sort | solar thermal steam propulsion system using disassociated steam for interplanetary exploration |
| topic | small spacecraft ISRU steam disassociation propulsion system design |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2226-4310/11/1/84 |
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