The liquid kerosene and oxygen combination has been around for more than 50 years. These include reusable rockets for low-Earth missions such as SpaceX's Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy, as well as the deep-space work horse Atlas V, used to lift NASA's Mars missions. "A lot of people use liquid kerosene and liquid oxygen," Mr Scott-Kilsby said. "It's one of the reasons that SpaceX and a lot of new companies have moved away from hydrogen, because while you get that peak performance, those additional challenges offset the benefits." What are the alternatives?Ĭommercial and other national space organisations use a range of fuel combinations depending upon the type of rocket and engines. "If you hit steel at that temperature, it will just shatter," Mr Scott-Kilsby said. Hydrogen can slip through the smallest of cracks, especially when it is chilled under pressure, and ultra-low temperatures can make materials - even metal - brittle. But there's twice as much oxygen in the tank by weight."Īnd the bigger the tank, the more weight at lift off.īut by far the most challenging problem is working in cryogenic conditions. "The hydrogen tank is twice the size of the oxygen tank. "Look how big SLS is that core is absolutely massive," Mr Scott-Kilsby said. The 65-metre-high orange rocket core holds two tanks: one for hydrogen, the other for oxygen. The SLS is the most powerful rocket ever built, capable of sending more than 27 tonnes into orbit around the Moon. "You get the most thrust for the mass you have." ![]() "Hydrogen and liquid oxygen produces the best performance of any conventional fuel we know today," Mr Scott-Kilsby said. ![]() On the plus side, hydrogen is very efficient as a fuel, said Haydn Scott-Kilsby, a propulsion engineer at Gilmore Space Technology, which plans to launch a rocket from Australia next year. So why are liquid hydrogen rockets so finicky, and how do they stack up with other technologies? The perils of using hydrogen NASA's giant SLS rocket uses the same type of fuel and engines flown by the shuttle program. Hydrogen was the shuttle era's fuel of choice, and back then, leaks were common. In 1990, NASA spent six months chasing down leaks in what was known as the "summer of hydrogen". ![]() Senator Nelson endured four scrubs before flying onboard Space Shuttle Columbia in 1986.
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