I am new to the forums and have not had time to read the past 10 years of post on this thread but one thing I have yet to see. Has anyone suggested getting a majority of the propellant from the Moon?The main reason I ask is that the element that makes up 40% of the Moon's surface also accounts for 80% of the mass of rocket propellant. ....
If BFR can lift 150 mt, and needs 1100 mt to refuel, then it would take 8 flights, and that would left some margin for boiloff (although methane and LOX boils less than LH2). I've been on this forum since 2008 and closely followed the quest for propellant depots by JohnGoff and many others. I think SpaceX architecture validates the usefulness of prop depots. It is an enormous force multiplier.
Jon, what would the viability of launching from a high inclination orbit like the ISS be? An idea I have been fascinated by (but never researched the viability of) is fueling departure stages for small payloads via utilizing rideshare and excess capacity on visiting vehicles.
Propellant Depots: hey NASA etc... Just do it!!
Quote from: MATTBLAK on 08/11/2018 05:28 amPropellant Depots: hey NASA etc... Just do it!!If NASA doesn't do it, I wouldn't be surprised if a foreign space agency decided to go after something like this. It would be a good niche for a country to carve out for itself.~Jon
Since you are advising Orbit Fab, I assume they are trying to implement the ISS co-orbital propellant depot with the 3 burn exit strategy you mentioned...
How would a similar strategy work out for a prop depot parked in sun terminator riding SSO orbit to work with SSO bound customers? Those usually aren't so volume limited so rideshare prop hauling is harder, but then again such a depot can double as a space corral type platform for cubesat class sensors as an expandable single platform version of the A-train earth observation fleet...
QuoteHow would a similar strategy work out for a prop depot parked in sun terminator riding SSO orbit to work with SSO bound customers? Those usually aren't so volume limited so rideshare prop hauling is harder, but then again such a depot can double as a space corral type platform for cubesat class sensors as an expandable single platform version of the A-train earth observation fleet...From a standpoint of refueling spacecraft, SSO and near-ISS are the two areas I would focus on, as that's where the most existing/planned spacecraft are. From what I've heard talking with smallsat launch providers, most of them expect to have leftover mass on most flights, and having something dense and inert like a water tank or Xenon tank that can takeup spare space probably makes a lot of sense. Is that what you were asking?~Jon