U.S. researchers try water for spacecraft fuel

British media said that researchers headed by former NASA chief technical experts are trying to launch water-fired satellites. According to a report from the British Physical Science News website on September 28th, the Cornell University research team led by Mason Peck hopes that their equipment will become the first cube Sat of the size of a shoe box that orbits the moon. It is also possible to use water as a source of fuel for spacecraft. This is a relatively safe and stable material that is also common in space, and it can also play a greater role in the search for alternatives to fossil fuels on Earth.

According to the report, unless we can develop a curvature engine or other future propulsion systems, space travel may still depend to a large extent on the currently used propellant-based rockets. This is driven by the combustion of gas at the rear of the vehicle. For satellites, such propulsion systems must be lightweight and able to carry large amounts of energy in smaller spaces so that they can continue to provide power for many years to keep the aircraft in orbit.

Safety is also a major consideration. Compressing energy in the form of fuel to a very small capacity and quality means that even minor problems can lead to catastrophic consequences, like the recent rocket explosion of space exploration technology companies. Satellites carrying any form of unstable fuel can be a disaster for expensive hardware and even human life.

According to reports, water is a solution to this problem because it is essentially a carrier of energy rather than fuel.

Cornell's team does not intend to use water itself as a propellant, but instead uses solar panels to break down water into hydrogen and oxygen and use them as fuel. The two gases recombine to ignite and burn or explode, releasing the energy absorbed during the decomposition process. The combustion of these two gases can be used to propel the satellite forward, or to change its orbital position around the target planet or satellite.

According to the report, solar panels have a high degree of reliability and have no moving parts. Therefore, they are ideally suited for use in the extreme environments of zero-gravity and space. They generate current from sunlight and allow satellites to perform their tasks. This energy source is generally stored in batteries. However, researchers at Cornell University hope to generate fuel by breaking down the water they carry.