Re:NASA: We're sending humans to Mars
by valarauca1 on Tuesday December 02, 2014 @05:50PM
(#8690590)
The advantage of methane is that it can be produced natively out of the martian atmosphere. Heat + Metal Catalyst + C02 + H2 = Methane + O2
Also hydrogen + O2 = water. So basically you ship the astronauts with nothing but hydrogen and live off the land. Or this is what the Mars Society was calling for.
Re:NASA: We're sending humans to Mars
by seanflyon on Wednesday December 03, 2014 @05:02PM
(#8696589)
89% (by mass) of hydrogen/oxygen fuel can also be produced from Martian atmosphere, since Oxygen has an atomic mass 16 times that of hydrogen. I think Methane has advantages other than a slightly larger portion producible from Martian air.
Re:NASA: We're sending humans to Mars
by danielweber on Tuesday December 02, 2014 @07:01PM
(#8690970)
Yes, any launch from Mars is very likely to be methane.
I was just trying to figure out how SpaceX could fund its development of methane rockets before that, through domestic use of methane rockets.
Roughly, the tech needed is:
1. heavy-lift
2. Mars EDL
3. artificial g for the trip and return
4. in-situ fuel production
5. methane rockets
SpaceX has been developing heavy-lift at a profit, so that takes care of #1. They are also working on #5, although I'm not sure off-hand who their customers are. (Methane has volume advantages over LH/LOX that might make it better for smaller missions.)
There are still some other pieces of the pie that need assembled. Rockets are surely a part of #2, but Musk is essentially building a company that will sell him a trip to Mars.