Hydrogen Spacecraft
Just the phrase "hydrogen spacecraft"
tends to put images in many people's minds of
something futuristic, something along the lines
of the cartoon "The Jetsons" or one
of the latest Hollywood blockbuster sci-fi movies.
The reality of the hydrogen spacecraft is that
it has been around for years. And, it all started
in the 1930's with a British engineer named Francis
Thomas Bacon.
Japanese experimental reusable
RVT-6 Spacecraft |
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It took Mr. Bacon almost thirty years to come
up with a workable prototype of a fuel cell that
was capable of powering up to five kilowatts.
Energy company, General Electric took Bacon's
fuel cell design and expanded upon it for the
fledgling space program back in the 1960's.
The space program was still in its infancy back
in the Gemini and Apollo days. NASA needed a power
source low in weight and density in order to provide
electricity to many onboard applications for the
space capsules and General Electric came up with
a solution. The result was one of the first spacecraft
to use hydrogen as fuel.
Hydrogen spacecraft use hydrogen in several ways.
First, it is used in the fuel cells to provide
electricity to onboard components because of its
properties of being lightweight and clean-burning.
Secondly, hydrogen is used as a type of fuel for
propulsion.
Hydrogen spacecraft have several beneficial features.
For instance, when the hydrogen fuel cells produce
electricity for the spacecraft, the only by-product
is water. This water is so clean that its used
for drinking water for the astronauts onboard
during their missions. Another benefit to hydrogen
is that while it is used as a fuel for propulsion,
it can also be used as a coolant to keep the spacecraft
from overheating.
Now days, NASA finances a lot of research into
these fuel cells and other alternative forms of
hydrogen technology. Hydrogen is clean and low
in density, which is a better alternative over
solar technologies that have large and awkward
equipment. It is also safer than trying to use
nuclear power.
Other enterprises have also jumped onboard such
as the Japanese Institute of Space and Astronautical
Science (ISAS), which built the RVT-6 spacecraft
pictured above. The RVT-6 is a prototype for a
commercial line of spacecraft that is powered
by a hydrogen-fuelled rocket engine.
Thanks to NASA's (and other organizations') never-ending
quest for efficient power alternatives using hydrogen,
the mass public in the 21st century is starting
to reap some of the benefits. There are now prototypes
for hydrogen motorcycles, cars, trains and even
other crafts like boats. Of course, it will take
a long time before the hydrogen fuel cell technology
takes off due to limited public resources for
refueling these vehicles.
Years down the road, when the environment is
a little cleaner and the pollutants in the air
decrease, we will have NASA and the first hydrogen
spacecraft to thank for propelling hydrogen as
a fuel source to the forefront of alternative
fuel research.
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