Ice confirmed at the Moon’s poles

Re:Ice confirmed at the Moon’s poles by Symmetry on Tuesday August 21, 2018 @05:14PM (#17813901)

Because oxygen and especially hydrogen are such a pain to store compared to water some rocket designs contemplate just leaving all the fuel mass as water and only splitting it into its parts as needed before firing.

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Re:Ice confirmed at the Moon’s poles by accrual on Tuesday August 21, 2018 @10:54PM (#17815900)

Water is also effective at blocking radiation [0][1], making it especially useful when stored around the spacecraft occupants.

[0] https://www.quora.com/Can-we-use-water-or-ice-as-radiation-s...

[1] https://www.nasa.gov/pdf/284275main_Radiation_HS_Mod3.pdf (page 4)

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Re:Ice confirmed at the Moon’s poles by dmurray on Tuesday August 21, 2018 @08:35PM (#17815157)

Don't you need an energy source to turn the water into its parts? That's the energy you recoup when you burn the hydrogen. Or did I miss the joke?

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Re:Ice confirmed at the Moon’s poles by GW150914 on Tuesday August 21, 2018 @08:41PM (#17815200)

Presumably this would be done with a small nuclear reactor powering an electrolysis system, in which case it’s feasible. Your savings are in complexity and weight because containing a mass of water is trivial, and naturally dense compared to H or O. As an extra feature you need water anyway, it can be used as a coolant, and you need oxygen which you’re now generating as a byproduct. Presumably for cruising you’d use the nuclear reactor to power an ion drive and only use the Water splitter as needed for maneuvering, launches, and landing.

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Re:Ice confirmed at the Moon’s poles by Nomentatus on Tuesday August 21, 2018 @10:19PM (#17815753)

South pole - perfect place for constant solar power. Just raise it up a little bit.

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