Questions tagged [cryogenics]
Questions regarding use, design, storage, consumption, or other considerations of materials, propellants, systems, or biological samples stored and/or used under very low temperatures, often under larger than ambient pressure.
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Does the NK-33 engine require subcooled kerosene so cold that it turns to wax?
It was mentioned in this answer and in several other places on the internet that the kerosene fuel used by NK-33 engines needed to be subcooled enough so that it reached the same density as the LOX, ...
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ULA's plan for LH2/LOX 2nd stage that can maintain propellant for an extended period of time?
Business Insider's (long) article SpaceX's biggest rival has a 'genius' plan to cut its rocket launch costs more than 70% contains the statements sourced from ULA's CEO Tory Bruno:
Vulcan should ...
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What are the droplets/particles falling off rockets at launch?
In this picture from the AsiaSat 6 launch by Falcon 9 on 8th September 2014, the part of the rocket between the fairing and the engine appears to be surrounded by dust, water droplets or debris:
And ...
user3405
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How are fuel tanks filled with cryogenic hydrogen?
Cryogenic hydrogen can react with the atmospheric Oxygen to produce an explosion:
as well as being cold enough to liquefy (and possibly solidify) atmospheric oxygen, which can be an explosion ...
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How will Robotic Refueling Mission-3's liquid methane tank remain full for six months without any boil off?
Space.com's Lasers, Crystals and 36,000 Worms Will Ride a SpaceX Dragon to Space Station says:
To fly on those journeys, astronauts might have to someday harvest fuel from the surface of the moon ...
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How are cryogenic rocket propellants delivered to the launch pad?
I work at a university that gets LN2/LHe (liquid nitrogen and helium) delivered a couple times a week by a large tanker truck outside my office. It seems to work well enough to deliver a couple tons ...
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How does SpaceX plan to deal with boiloff on the trip to Mars?
Both BFR (Big Falcon Rocket) booster and BFS (Big Falcon Spaceship) are to run on Raptor engines, fueled with liquid methane and liquid oxygen - cryofuels.
The trip to Mars will take at least a couple ...
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Why was the Shuttle's LOX tank on top of the LH2 tank, since that makes it more top-heavy?
The external tank for the shuttle contained tanks of liquid Oxygen and Hydrogen for the main engines to use. These two have similar (though not equal) volumes, but the Oxygen is heavier in an obvious ...
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Air-launching an Electron-like LOX-based rocket from a plane; technical challenges?
@GremlinWranger's answer and comments to the question Is it coincidence that the Electron has very similar dimensions to the Pegasus? motivates my asking for the technical challenges to air-launching ...
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How long is it feasible to store cryogenic fuels?
Working with liquid nitrogen all day, I am constantly bothered by their boiling away, forcing me to go get more from the storage dewar. Likewise should be the case with any cryogen, e.g. LH2 and LOX ...
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A cryo tank within another cryo tank...is it a sound engineering concept?
Here's the idea: A large spherical LH2 tank is placed inside a spherical LOX tank.
The reason I thought of this is so the inner tank doesn't need to be insulated. It doesn't need to be a double-...
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In a cryogenic fuel rocket, at what pressure is the fuel injected into the engine?
The pressure in the Space Shuttle's main engines must be very high to get the vehicle off the ground (with the SRB assist, of course). With such high pressures inside the engine, how do you inject ...
user39
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Changes made to ISRO GSLV-D5's CUS and FBTP since GSLV-D3's LH2/LOX CUS failure to sustain ignition?
The launch of the ISRO GSLV-D5 launching India's GSAT 14 advanced communications satellite (weighing 1,980 kg) is slated for 19th of August, 2013, flying in the GSLV Mk.2 configuration with an Indian-...
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Why can’t cryogenic propellants be storable, at least on the ground, via refrigeration?
Cryogenic fuels (liquid hydrogen, liquid methane)1 and oxidisers (liquid oxygen)2 are the rocket propellants of choice where raw performance is the overriding concern, due to the very high performance ...
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Why do Ariane rockets not have ice break off on liftoff?
In a recent question asked here, it was asked what debris falling from a Rocket Lab Electron Rocket was during launch.
e.g.:
The answer, was that it was ice that had formed after cryogenic fuel/...
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