X-Nico

unusual facts about propellant depot



Mission Extension Vehicle

is a spacecraft concept proposed by ViviSat, a 50/50 joint venture of aerospace firms U.S. Space and ATK, to operate as a small-scale in-space satellite-refueling spacecraft.

Monopropellant rocket

A concept to provide low Earth orbit (LEO) propellant depots that could be used as way-stations for other spacecraft to stop and refuel on the way to beyond-LEO missions has proposed that waste gaseous hydrogen—an inevitable byproduct of long-term liquid hydrogen storage in the radiative heat environment of space—would be usable as a monopropellant in a solar-thermal propulsion system.

Propulsive Fluid Accumulator

Boeing has suggested a non-extractive propellant depot, or "space gas station," which accumulates material launched from the planet at low cost, allowing future lunar missions without the need for large launch vehicles like the Saturn V.


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