Spaceship fuel on Europa The Next CEO of Stack OverflowManufacturing of fuel, post-apocalypseHow could an amorphous blob create rocket fuel?Microfilaments on wheels would save fuel?Communication and Navigation for space flight on EuropaWhat would be a super fuel for methanol fuel dominating setting?Surveying fossil fuel deposits from the airCan liquid nuclear fuel be injected and ignited like petro from a fuel injector?Alternative source of fuel instead of woodWhat kind of fuel would spaceships capable of faster-than-light travel use?Fuel for a commercial space shuttle
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Spaceship fuel on Europa
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Written every which way
Spaceship fuel on Europa
The Next CEO of Stack OverflowManufacturing of fuel, post-apocalypseHow could an amorphous blob create rocket fuel?Microfilaments on wheels would save fuel?Communication and Navigation for space flight on EuropaWhat would be a super fuel for methanol fuel dominating setting?Surveying fossil fuel deposits from the airCan liquid nuclear fuel be injected and ignited like petro from a fuel injector?Alternative source of fuel instead of woodWhat kind of fuel would spaceships capable of faster-than-light travel use?Fuel for a commercial space shuttle
$begingroup$
What would make a good propulsion source for small engines and manouvering thrusters for vehicles on Europa (moon of Jupiter), both for surface operations (vacuum) and in caves beneath the ice (low or medium pressure)?
Say my colonists have ample amounts of electricity from fusion power. Could they melt ice to water and electrolyse it to hydrogen and oxygen? If so, how would a hydrogen and oxygen based propulsion system function? What other solutions might they use? Obviously I want to use local materials if possible. Refueling drops from other locations in the jovian system are acceptable as long as they are plausible and make economic sense...
space-travel fuels jupiter
edited 1 hour ago
Cyn
10.7k12348
asked 1 hour ago
InnovineInnovine
3,594725
$endgroup$
add a comment |
$begingroup$
What would make a good propulsion source for small engines and manouvering thrusters for vehicles on Europa (moon of Jupiter), both for surface operations (vacuum) and in caves beneath the ice (low or medium pressure)?
Say my colonists have ample amounts of electricity from fusion power. Could they melt ice to water and electrolyse it to hydrogen and oxygen? If so, how would a hydrogen and oxygen based propulsion system function? What other solutions might they use? Obviously I want to use local materials if possible. Refueling drops from other locations in the jovian system are acceptable as long as they are plausible and make economic sense...
space-travel fuels jupiter
edited 1 hour ago
Cyn
10.7k12348
asked 1 hour ago
InnovineInnovine
3,594725
$endgroup$
$begingroup$
SE's Q&A model is one-specific-question/one-best-answer. I see at least 3 questions, which makes the question "too broad." You can always post more questions if necessary. Please edit this post to express a single, specific question. Also, our help center states, "avoid asking subjective questions where your answer is provided along with the question."
$endgroup$
– JBH
1 hour ago
1
$begingroup$
While I agree with the above to some extent, I think the questions closely relate to each other enough that it may be considered one continuous question. Consider rewording some questions in a way to illustrate possible solutions you've thought of. I think that would clear up the question.
$endgroup$
– Cristian C.
1 hour ago
1
$begingroup$
Sometimes authors use questions rhetorically. In this case, I'm seeing one larger question with some ideas thrown out in the form of questions.
$endgroup$
– Cyn
1 hour ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
What would make a good propulsion source for small engines and manouvering thrusters for vehicles on Europa (moon of Jupiter), both for surface operations (vacuum) and in caves beneath the ice (low or medium pressure)?
Say my colonists have ample amounts of electricity from fusion power. Could they melt ice to water and electrolyse it to hydrogen and oxygen? If so, how would a hydrogen and oxygen based propulsion system function? What other solutions might they use? Obviously I want to use local materials if possible. Refueling drops from other locations in the jovian system are acceptable as long as they are plausible and make economic sense...
space-travel fuels jupiter
edited 1 hour ago
Cyn
10.7k12348
asked 1 hour ago
InnovineInnovine
3,594725
$endgroup$
What would make a good propulsion source for small engines and manouvering thrusters for vehicles on Europa (moon of Jupiter), both for surface operations (vacuum) and in caves beneath the ice (low or medium pressure)?
Say my colonists have ample amounts of electricity from fusion power. Could they melt ice to water and electrolyse it to hydrogen and oxygen? If so, how would a hydrogen and oxygen based propulsion system function? What other solutions might they use? Obviously I want to use local materials if possible. Refueling drops from other locations in the jovian system are acceptable as long as they are plausible and make economic sense...
space-travel fuels jupiter
space-travel fuels jupiter
edited 1 hour ago
Cyn
10.7k12348
asked 1 hour ago
InnovineInnovine
3,594725
edited 1 hour ago
Cyn
10.7k12348
asked 1 hour ago
InnovineInnovine
3,594725
edited 1 hour ago
Cyn
10.7k12348
edited 1 hour ago
Cyn
10.7k12348
edited 1 hour ago
Cyn
10.7k12348
10.7k12348
asked 1 hour ago
InnovineInnovine
3,594725
asked 1 hour ago
InnovineInnovine
3,594725
asked 1 hour ago
InnovineInnovine
3,594725
3,594725
$begingroup$
SE's Q&A model is one-specific-question/one-best-answer. I see at least 3 questions, which makes the question "too broad." You can always post more questions if necessary. Please edit this post to express a single, specific question. Also, our help center states, "avoid asking subjective questions where your answer is provided along with the question."
$endgroup$
– JBH
1 hour ago
1
$begingroup$
While I agree with the above to some extent, I think the questions closely relate to each other enough that it may be considered one continuous question. Consider rewording some questions in a way to illustrate possible solutions you've thought of. I think that would clear up the question.
$endgroup$
– Cristian C.
1 hour ago
1
$begingroup$
Sometimes authors use questions rhetorically. In this case, I'm seeing one larger question with some ideas thrown out in the form of questions.
$endgroup$
– Cyn
1 hour ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
SE's Q&A model is one-specific-question/one-best-answer. I see at least 3 questions, which makes the question "too broad." You can always post more questions if necessary. Please edit this post to express a single, specific question. Also, our help center states, "avoid asking subjective questions where your answer is provided along with the question."
$endgroup$
– JBH
1 hour ago
1
$begingroup$
While I agree with the above to some extent, I think the questions closely relate to each other enough that it may be considered one continuous question. Consider rewording some questions in a way to illustrate possible solutions you've thought of. I think that would clear up the question.
$endgroup$
– Cristian C.
1 hour ago
1
$begingroup$
Sometimes authors use questions rhetorically. In this case, I'm seeing one larger question with some ideas thrown out in the form of questions.
$endgroup$
– Cyn
1 hour ago
$begingroup$
SE's Q&A model is one-specific-question/one-best-answer. I see at least 3 questions, which makes the question "too broad." You can always post more questions if necessary. Please edit this post to express a single, specific question. Also, our help center states, "avoid asking subjective questions where your answer is provided along with the question."
$endgroup$
– JBH
1 hour ago
$begingroup$
SE's Q&A model is one-specific-question/one-best-answer. I see at least 3 questions, which makes the question "too broad." You can always post more questions if necessary. Please edit this post to express a single, specific question. Also, our help center states, "avoid asking subjective questions where your answer is provided along with the question."
$endgroup$
– JBH
1 hour ago
1
1
$begingroup$
While I agree with the above to some extent, I think the questions closely relate to each other enough that it may be considered one continuous question. Consider rewording some questions in a way to illustrate possible solutions you've thought of. I think that would clear up the question.
$endgroup$
– Cristian C.
1 hour ago
$begingroup$
While I agree with the above to some extent, I think the questions closely relate to each other enough that it may be considered one continuous question. Consider rewording some questions in a way to illustrate possible solutions you've thought of. I think that would clear up the question.
$endgroup$
– Cristian C.
1 hour ago
1
1
$begingroup$
Sometimes authors use questions rhetorically. In this case, I'm seeing one larger question with some ideas thrown out in the form of questions.
$endgroup$
– Cyn
1 hour ago
$begingroup$
Sometimes authors use questions rhetorically. In this case, I'm seeing one larger question with some ideas thrown out in the form of questions.
$endgroup$
– Cyn
1 hour ago
add a comment |
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
$begingroup$
Under the ice:
Under the ice on Europa, there is... more ice. The upper layer of the planet is actually a solid ice layer, similar to the upper mantle of the Earth. While solid, there is a lot of convection (on Earth this creates tectonic activity), so if you drilled a tunnel down there, it would collapse pretty quickly due to the shifting ice. Also, as you drilled down there would be lots of pressure from the gas formed by sublimating ice that you've newly exposed to the vacuum of space.
So vehicles designed to go down there would have their own drilling equipment and be able to fix themselves to the ice, maybe using giant spikes or equivalent. If and when they get down to the water level, they would probably stay as close as possible to the surface to avoid getting caught in underwater currents caused by the tides (when you orbit a gas giant, your tidal forces are very, very strong), so I doubt you'd even have a submarine-like design, just a tank that claws its way through the slushy ice-soup that saturates the top levels of the oceans.
On the surface:
Easy peasy. Europa's gravity is about 13% of Earth's, so you could propel yourself with jets of water vapor expelled from RCS thrusters:
Water vapor is easy to make when the ground is made of ice and you have nuclear power. Don't bother with hydrogen and oxygen: just superheat the water and explosively blast it out of a nozzle: the easiest way to store hydrogen and oxygen is in the form of water.
Local materials:
Well, you're good on fuel. Everything else would have to be imported or slowly fished out from the ice's mineral content through electrolysis, dew point separation, or whatever ends up being more efficient. There's a good amount of carbon down there, and plenty of hydrogen, so you could conceivably make plastics through a convoluted and power-hungry process. Some metals are present at impact sites, as well as silicon, which you could use to make ceramics. You might be better off importing though. It depends: if Europa is a fuel-mining colony, they can probably afford to filter their water for impurities as part of the refining process. If they're a research outpost, haha good luck!
answered 1 hour ago
Adrian HallAdrian Hall
1,119113
$endgroup$
add a comment |
$begingroup$
You do not need any special fuel. You said that you have plenty of electricity that you are generating, so just use electrical motors.
A good propulsion source on the surface would be wheels or legs. If the ground is solid, you use conventional means to traverse it. So, we use the same technology we have been using for thousands of years.
A good propulsion source under the surface but still in the solid volume would be a drill. This could be either a conventional mechanical drill, or, since you have ample electricity, it could drill through the ice using heat; but beware, drilling using heat will leave behind water and/or water-vapor which you may have to deal with.
A good propulsion source deeper under the surface in the volume which is believed to be liquid would require a sub.
So you see, everything will just use types of devices that we are already used to, though they may need to be adapted a bit to the specific conditions of Europa. In fact, people have been working on this for years. See the following...
Robot Submarine on Jupiter Moon Europa is 'Holy Grail' Mission for Planetary Science
An Alien-Hunting Submarine Is Being Tested in Antarctica
NASA’s New Deep-Sea Submarine Could Eventually Look for Aliens
answered 23 mins ago
AaronAaron
2,494620
$endgroup$
add a comment |
Your Answer
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2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
$begingroup$
Under the ice:
Under the ice on Europa, there is... more ice. The upper layer of the planet is actually a solid ice layer, similar to the upper mantle of the Earth. While solid, there is a lot of convection (on Earth this creates tectonic activity), so if you drilled a tunnel down there, it would collapse pretty quickly due to the shifting ice. Also, as you drilled down there would be lots of pressure from the gas formed by sublimating ice that you've newly exposed to the vacuum of space.
So vehicles designed to go down there would have their own drilling equipment and be able to fix themselves to the ice, maybe using giant spikes or equivalent. If and when they get down to the water level, they would probably stay as close as possible to the surface to avoid getting caught in underwater currents caused by the tides (when you orbit a gas giant, your tidal forces are very, very strong), so I doubt you'd even have a submarine-like design, just a tank that claws its way through the slushy ice-soup that saturates the top levels of the oceans.
On the surface:
Easy peasy. Europa's gravity is about 13% of Earth's, so you could propel yourself with jets of water vapor expelled from RCS thrusters:
Water vapor is easy to make when the ground is made of ice and you have nuclear power. Don't bother with hydrogen and oxygen: just superheat the water and explosively blast it out of a nozzle: the easiest way to store hydrogen and oxygen is in the form of water.
Local materials:
Well, you're good on fuel. Everything else would have to be imported or slowly fished out from the ice's mineral content through electrolysis, dew point separation, or whatever ends up being more efficient. There's a good amount of carbon down there, and plenty of hydrogen, so you could conceivably make plastics through a convoluted and power-hungry process. Some metals are present at impact sites, as well as silicon, which you could use to make ceramics. You might be better off importing though. It depends: if Europa is a fuel-mining colony, they can probably afford to filter their water for impurities as part of the refining process. If they're a research outpost, haha good luck!
answered 1 hour ago
Adrian HallAdrian Hall
1,119113
$endgroup$
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Under the ice:
Under the ice on Europa, there is... more ice. The upper layer of the planet is actually a solid ice layer, similar to the upper mantle of the Earth. While solid, there is a lot of convection (on Earth this creates tectonic activity), so if you drilled a tunnel down there, it would collapse pretty quickly due to the shifting ice. Also, as you drilled down there would be lots of pressure from the gas formed by sublimating ice that you've newly exposed to the vacuum of space.
So vehicles designed to go down there would have their own drilling equipment and be able to fix themselves to the ice, maybe using giant spikes or equivalent. If and when they get down to the water level, they would probably stay as close as possible to the surface to avoid getting caught in underwater currents caused by the tides (when you orbit a gas giant, your tidal forces are very, very strong), so I doubt you'd even have a submarine-like design, just a tank that claws its way through the slushy ice-soup that saturates the top levels of the oceans.
On the surface:
Easy peasy. Europa's gravity is about 13% of Earth's, so you could propel yourself with jets of water vapor expelled from RCS thrusters:
Water vapor is easy to make when the ground is made of ice and you have nuclear power. Don't bother with hydrogen and oxygen: just superheat the water and explosively blast it out of a nozzle: the easiest way to store hydrogen and oxygen is in the form of water.
Local materials:
Well, you're good on fuel. Everything else would have to be imported or slowly fished out from the ice's mineral content through electrolysis, dew point separation, or whatever ends up being more efficient. There's a good amount of carbon down there, and plenty of hydrogen, so you could conceivably make plastics through a convoluted and power-hungry process. Some metals are present at impact sites, as well as silicon, which you could use to make ceramics. You might be better off importing though. It depends: if Europa is a fuel-mining colony, they can probably afford to filter their water for impurities as part of the refining process. If they're a research outpost, haha good luck!
answered 1 hour ago
Adrian HallAdrian Hall
1,119113
$endgroup$
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Under the ice:
Under the ice on Europa, there is... more ice. The upper layer of the planet is actually a solid ice layer, similar to the upper mantle of the Earth. While solid, there is a lot of convection (on Earth this creates tectonic activity), so if you drilled a tunnel down there, it would collapse pretty quickly due to the shifting ice. Also, as you drilled down there would be lots of pressure from the gas formed by sublimating ice that you've newly exposed to the vacuum of space.
So vehicles designed to go down there would have their own drilling equipment and be able to fix themselves to the ice, maybe using giant spikes or equivalent. If and when they get down to the water level, they would probably stay as close as possible to the surface to avoid getting caught in underwater currents caused by the tides (when you orbit a gas giant, your tidal forces are very, very strong), so I doubt you'd even have a submarine-like design, just a tank that claws its way through the slushy ice-soup that saturates the top levels of the oceans.
On the surface:
Easy peasy. Europa's gravity is about 13% of Earth's, so you could propel yourself with jets of water vapor expelled from RCS thrusters:
Water vapor is easy to make when the ground is made of ice and you have nuclear power. Don't bother with hydrogen and oxygen: just superheat the water and explosively blast it out of a nozzle: the easiest way to store hydrogen and oxygen is in the form of water.
Local materials:
Well, you're good on fuel. Everything else would have to be imported or slowly fished out from the ice's mineral content through electrolysis, dew point separation, or whatever ends up being more efficient. There's a good amount of carbon down there, and plenty of hydrogen, so you could conceivably make plastics through a convoluted and power-hungry process. Some metals are present at impact sites, as well as silicon, which you could use to make ceramics. You might be better off importing though. It depends: if Europa is a fuel-mining colony, they can probably afford to filter their water for impurities as part of the refining process. If they're a research outpost, haha good luck!
answered 1 hour ago
Adrian HallAdrian Hall
1,119113
$endgroup$
Under the ice:
Under the ice on Europa, there is... more ice. The upper layer of the planet is actually a solid ice layer, similar to the upper mantle of the Earth. While solid, there is a lot of convection (on Earth this creates tectonic activity), so if you drilled a tunnel down there, it would collapse pretty quickly due to the shifting ice. Also, as you drilled down there would be lots of pressure from the gas formed by sublimating ice that you've newly exposed to the vacuum of space.
So vehicles designed to go down there would have their own drilling equipment and be able to fix themselves to the ice, maybe using giant spikes or equivalent. If and when they get down to the water level, they would probably stay as close as possible to the surface to avoid getting caught in underwater currents caused by the tides (when you orbit a gas giant, your tidal forces are very, very strong), so I doubt you'd even have a submarine-like design, just a tank that claws its way through the slushy ice-soup that saturates the top levels of the oceans.
On the surface:
Easy peasy. Europa's gravity is about 13% of Earth's, so you could propel yourself with jets of water vapor expelled from RCS thrusters:
Water vapor is easy to make when the ground is made of ice and you have nuclear power. Don't bother with hydrogen and oxygen: just superheat the water and explosively blast it out of a nozzle: the easiest way to store hydrogen and oxygen is in the form of water.
Local materials:
Well, you're good on fuel. Everything else would have to be imported or slowly fished out from the ice's mineral content through electrolysis, dew point separation, or whatever ends up being more efficient. There's a good amount of carbon down there, and plenty of hydrogen, so you could conceivably make plastics through a convoluted and power-hungry process. Some metals are present at impact sites, as well as silicon, which you could use to make ceramics. You might be better off importing though. It depends: if Europa is a fuel-mining colony, they can probably afford to filter their water for impurities as part of the refining process. If they're a research outpost, haha good luck!
answered 1 hour ago
Adrian HallAdrian Hall
1,119113
answered 1 hour ago
Adrian HallAdrian Hall
1,119113
answered 1 hour ago
Adrian HallAdrian Hall
1,119113
answered 1 hour ago
Adrian HallAdrian Hall
1,119113
1,119113
add a comment |
add a comment |
$begingroup$
You do not need any special fuel. You said that you have plenty of electricity that you are generating, so just use electrical motors.
A good propulsion source on the surface would be wheels or legs. If the ground is solid, you use conventional means to traverse it. So, we use the same technology we have been using for thousands of years.
A good propulsion source under the surface but still in the solid volume would be a drill. This could be either a conventional mechanical drill, or, since you have ample electricity, it could drill through the ice using heat; but beware, drilling using heat will leave behind water and/or water-vapor which you may have to deal with.
A good propulsion source deeper under the surface in the volume which is believed to be liquid would require a sub.
So you see, everything will just use types of devices that we are already used to, though they may need to be adapted a bit to the specific conditions of Europa. In fact, people have been working on this for years. See the following...
Robot Submarine on Jupiter Moon Europa is 'Holy Grail' Mission for Planetary Science
An Alien-Hunting Submarine Is Being Tested in Antarctica
NASA’s New Deep-Sea Submarine Could Eventually Look for Aliens
answered 23 mins ago
AaronAaron
2,494620
$endgroup$
add a comment |
$begingroup$
You do not need any special fuel. You said that you have plenty of electricity that you are generating, so just use electrical motors.
A good propulsion source on the surface would be wheels or legs. If the ground is solid, you use conventional means to traverse it. So, we use the same technology we have been using for thousands of years.
A good propulsion source under the surface but still in the solid volume would be a drill. This could be either a conventional mechanical drill, or, since you have ample electricity, it could drill through the ice using heat; but beware, drilling using heat will leave behind water and/or water-vapor which you may have to deal with.
A good propulsion source deeper under the surface in the volume which is believed to be liquid would require a sub.
So you see, everything will just use types of devices that we are already used to, though they may need to be adapted a bit to the specific conditions of Europa. In fact, people have been working on this for years. See the following...
Robot Submarine on Jupiter Moon Europa is 'Holy Grail' Mission for Planetary Science
An Alien-Hunting Submarine Is Being Tested in Antarctica
NASA’s New Deep-Sea Submarine Could Eventually Look for Aliens
answered 23 mins ago
AaronAaron
2,494620
$endgroup$
add a comment |
$begingroup$
You do not need any special fuel. You said that you have plenty of electricity that you are generating, so just use electrical motors.
A good propulsion source on the surface would be wheels or legs. If the ground is solid, you use conventional means to traverse it. So, we use the same technology we have been using for thousands of years.
A good propulsion source under the surface but still in the solid volume would be a drill. This could be either a conventional mechanical drill, or, since you have ample electricity, it could drill through the ice using heat; but beware, drilling using heat will leave behind water and/or water-vapor which you may have to deal with.
A good propulsion source deeper under the surface in the volume which is believed to be liquid would require a sub.
So you see, everything will just use types of devices that we are already used to, though they may need to be adapted a bit to the specific conditions of Europa. In fact, people have been working on this for years. See the following...
Robot Submarine on Jupiter Moon Europa is 'Holy Grail' Mission for Planetary Science
An Alien-Hunting Submarine Is Being Tested in Antarctica
NASA’s New Deep-Sea Submarine Could Eventually Look for Aliens
answered 23 mins ago
AaronAaron
2,494620
$endgroup$
You do not need any special fuel. You said that you have plenty of electricity that you are generating, so just use electrical motors.
A good propulsion source on the surface would be wheels or legs. If the ground is solid, you use conventional means to traverse it. So, we use the same technology we have been using for thousands of years.
A good propulsion source under the surface but still in the solid volume would be a drill. This could be either a conventional mechanical drill, or, since you have ample electricity, it could drill through the ice using heat; but beware, drilling using heat will leave behind water and/or water-vapor which you may have to deal with.
A good propulsion source deeper under the surface in the volume which is believed to be liquid would require a sub.
So you see, everything will just use types of devices that we are already used to, though they may need to be adapted a bit to the specific conditions of Europa. In fact, people have been working on this for years. See the following...
Robot Submarine on Jupiter Moon Europa is 'Holy Grail' Mission for Planetary Science
An Alien-Hunting Submarine Is Being Tested in Antarctica
NASA’s New Deep-Sea Submarine Could Eventually Look for Aliens
answered 23 mins ago
AaronAaron
2,494620
answered 23 mins ago
AaronAaron
2,494620
answered 23 mins ago
AaronAaron
2,494620
answered 23 mins ago
AaronAaron
2,494620
2,494620
add a comment |
add a comment |
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$begingroup$
SE's Q&A model is one-specific-question/one-best-answer. I see at least 3 questions, which makes the question "too broad." You can always post more questions if necessary. Please edit this post to express a single, specific question. Also, our help center states, "avoid asking subjective questions where your answer is provided along with the question."
$endgroup$
– JBH
1 hour ago
1
$begingroup$
While I agree with the above to some extent, I think the questions closely relate to each other enough that it may be considered one continuous question. Consider rewording some questions in a way to illustrate possible solutions you've thought of. I think that would clear up the question.
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– Cristian C.
1 hour ago
1
$begingroup$
Sometimes authors use questions rhetorically. In this case, I'm seeing one larger question with some ideas thrown out in the form of questions.
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– Cyn
1 hour ago