Space Exploration Beta

Questions tagged [fuel-cell]

Ask Question

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

6 questions
Newest
Active
Bountied
Unanswered
Filter by
Sorted by
Tagged with
3
votes
1answer
118 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
322 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
148 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
votes
1answer
89 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
votes
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 ...
23
votes
3answers
4k 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 ...