Questions tagged [fuel-cell]
Questions regarding the use of fuel cells (devices that consume fuel and oxidizer and produce electricity) for power generation on spacecraft.
11
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3
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2answers
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Was there a mechanism to vent fuel cell reactants on the Shuttle orbiter?
Related to my recent question: Why was the Space Shuttle Orbiter's in-orbit time limited?
I was told a limiting factor to time in orbit is that the cryogenic gases used as reactants by the Shuttle'...
2
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1answer
125 views
What was the first successful demonstration of a fuel cell in space?
Hydrogen fuel cells (together with batteries) were used for electrical power in the Apollo program, where it was recombined with oxygen on board to produce electricity.
Doing chemistry in practical ...
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1answer
93 views
Which fuel cell fuels have been demonstrated in space?
Combination of fuel cells and electric motors - whether it has been used as part of an electric pump-fed cycles? gives a short summary of fuel cells and lists the following energy-containing fuels ...
2
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1answer
76 views
Combination of fuel cells and electric motors - whether it has been used as part of an electric pump-fed engines?
In electric-pump-fed engines fuel pumps are electrically powered and batteries are used as source of electricity. Yet there is another source of electrical energy which could be used in theory - fuel ...
8
votes
1answer
178 views
ULA's ACES upper stage with IVF - Why are they using internal combustion engines?
I recently read out about ULA's ACES (Advanced Cryogenic Evolved Stage) upper stage with IVF (Integrated Vehicle Fluids), which crazy as it sounds, has two six-cylinder engines developed by Roush that ...
4
votes
1answer
288 views
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
votes
2answers
421 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
votes
0answers
168 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 ...
3
votes
1answer
156 views
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
1k views
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 ...
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3answers
5k views
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 ...
