[AR] Re: Flying to Orbit with Hydrogen?
- From: Henry Spencer <hspencer@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: Arocket List <arocket@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 15 Dec 2019 23:36:46 -0500 (EST)
On Sun, 15 Dec 2019, Craig Fink wrote:
Anybody interested?
With any luck, no. :-) As Doug Jones commented the last time you brought
this up:
"Craig, have you ever worked with LH2? I have, and it is a complete pain
in the ass. Every step of the supply chain is expensive, slow to react to
demand, and wasteful. It brings with it all the materials science hassles
of embrittlement, the operational problems of *freezing* air,
oxygen-enriched liquid air drips and _their_ dangers, expensive quantities
of helium required for purges and pressurization, vacuum and aerogel
insulation, and a dozen other ways in which it is a step far beyond other
fuels. XCOR spent almost a decade learning how to handle LOX, alcohol,
kerosene, and methane IN THAT ORDER before we tackled LH2... and we made
it work but it was difficult for a full-time professional team with
man-centuries of experience."
Henry
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