Economics (was Critical time)

>>>Oxygen makes a suitable propellant, all you need is a suitable energy source
such as nuclear energy to heat the oxygen and you could have a nuclear
powered oxygen rocket to propell a surface to orbit lunar shuttle. Also what
propellent does the Shuttle Solid Rocket boosters use? Isn't it aluminum
powder and oxygen or something like that? Couldn't these materials be found
on the Moon?>>>

The aluminium/oxygen rocket is interesting. The idea of using powdered
aluminium fuels on the moon, has been explored in the past. Due to the problems
of pumping powdered Aluminium, molten aluminium may be used instead. Since
Aluminium melts at 600C, a thermic lance could be used to melt it, prior to take
off. Alternatively, the craft could carry an RTG in its fuel tank. This would
provide the necesary heat to keep the Al molten. A similar idea would be a
Sodium/Potassium eutectic alloy fuel system. NaK is molten at room temperature
and it could potentialy be burned with oxygen in a rocket engine. A slurry,
containing fine granuals of powdered Aluminium, would have superior performance
to a pure NaK fuel.
Sulphur/Oxygen is another potential fuel choice. Samples taken by apollo
astronauts show relatively high concentrations of sulphur in some lunar soils.
Sulphur dioxide would freeze out during the lunar night and would tend to
collect in cold traps. It is therefor an environmentaly more friendly fuel and
unlike carbon based fuels, it will not leave the moon with a perminent CO2
atmosphere.

Oxygen is extremely corrosive at high temperatures. Any nuclear engine system
using oxygen propellant, would need to be constructed from ceramic materials.
The thermal conductivity of ceramics is poor.
In my opinion, one of the most limiting factors for nuclear engines, is their
low power to weight ratio. When large amounts of thrust are required, the
specific impulse delivered tends to be very poor. For this reason, nuclear
engines may be more suitable for space transportation systems. During taakeoff
from a planetary surface, large amounts of power are needed.

Tony

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