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Questions tagged [fuel-cell]

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Questions regarding the use of fuel cells (devices that consume fuel and oxidizer and produce electricity) for power generation on spacecraft.

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Are there fuel cells for methane + oxygen? Could there be?

Hydrogen + oxygen fuel cells powered the week-long Apollo missions to the Moon and Shuttle missions to orbit, and there is a industry trying to build itself around hydrogen-fed fuel cell-based road ...
7
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2answers
333 views

Loading tanks for supercritical oxygen and hydrogen on the launch pad, how to achieve low temperature and high pressure?

The Apollo and Shuttle spacecrafts used fuel cells for the production of electric energy and water. The hydrogen and oxygen for the fuel cells were stored as a supercritical fluid at a temperature ...
4
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0answers
149 views

Are there examples of a spacecraft designed for transitions from supercritical to liquid+gas mixtures?

The question What happens when supercritical fuel tanks deplete below critical point? suggests some possible scenarios when the pressure of a tank is in danger of dropping below the supercritical ...
2
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Why did the Soyuz 7K-LOK use fuel cells rather than solar panels?

The Soyuz 7K-LOK, a heavily-modified derivative of the 7K-OK, was to have been the Soviet equivalent of the Apollo CSM, taking two cosmonauts to lunar orbit (from where one would transfer to the LK ...
14
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5answers
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If LOX/LH2 were used in a fuel cell powering an ion engine could it provide a greater delta-v than with a conventional engine?

Question: If LOX/LH2 were used in a fuel cell powering an ion engine could it provide a greater delta-v than with a conventional engine? Conditions: Start in space in a stable heliocentric orbit (no ...
23
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3answers
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Why didn't Gemini, Apollo or STS use solar panels?

Short-duration flights (Vostok, Voskhod, Mercury) use several-kWh batteries. Space stations use photovoltaic cells for their high power-to-weight ratio. The longest mission duration accomplished with ...