Eyes are on space more than ever, and efforts to facilitate future space missions have become a daily affair, especially around the moon. A method of producing electricity on the Moon at night has already been developed; now, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has proposed the creation of service stations in space as a store for extra fuel in order to save time, money and, of course, fuel.
These “space gas stations” would mean overcoming the challenge of setting up missions on the Moon at a lower cost . The ships would not have to carry as much fuel on board, so the rocket could carry heavier payloads to advance space science experimentation or to carry extra material for the mission.
Although the idea of establishing gas stations in space is not new, the projects of the past had such high costs that they were unviable. However, this design seems to be much more accessible. The MIT project is based on the spacecraft leaving the emergency fuel tank (which all ships have), which they will no longer use, when they are on their way to return home. Before returning, they drop the extra fuel reserve in a tank , which can be used by another ship if required.
This tank could accumulate fuel from multiple missions as if it were a warehouse. To transfer the fuel from the tank to the spacecraft, it would only be necessary a robotic arm or the presence of the astronauts themselves to move the container. The only two drawbacks that remain to be solved are: ensure that the tanks do not move from their location and that the fuel remains at a suitable temperature (cold) so that it does not evaporate due to the heat.
Thanks to this strategy, exploration missions could last from 7 to 14 days and with several independent ships working at the same time in different parts of the satellite. The scheme of the architecture of the space depot has been published in the journal Acta Astronautica .
Image credit: Christine Daniloff / MIT
