Liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen are each cryogenic gases, which implies they’ll solely be liquefied at extraordinarily low temperatures. Due to this, the gas faces monumental technical challenges. Liquid hydrogen must be saved at roughly minus 217 °C and dealt with with excessive care.
The rocket’s tanks refueling with liquid hydrogen should be insulated from all sources of warmth, together with exhaust from the rocket’s engine and air friction throughout flight. But regardless of these challenges, hydrogen provides some distinctive advantages.
It is the aspect with the bottom molecular weight of all identified substances and burns very quickly at over 2,600 °C. When mixed with liquid oxygen, liquid hydrogen produces the very best particular impulse (or effectivity) in relation to the quantity of propellant consumed.
According to NASA, one of many first and most necessary tasks to make use of liquid hydrogen as a gas was performed United States Air Force between 1956 and 1958, Even although only a few individuals knew about it on the time, and even now, the Air Force has spent over 100 million {dollars} on the venture. That’s over 1 / 4 billion in as we speak’s {dollars}.
The check venture was named the Suntan and was an try to develop a hydrogen-fueled airplane meant to be the successor to the Lockheed U2, the spy plane of selection for the Air Force on the time. Even although the venture was canceled earlier than completion, it preceded the event of a rocket engine that flew utilizing hydrogen.
With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS