Re: Titan, the interplanetary gas station

"Jeremiah Jones"  wrote in message 
news:[email protected]...

a425couple <[email protected]> wrote:

> Titan's water could provide oxygen for breathing and hydrogen as fuel.
> Hydrocarbons, such as methane, would serve to produce energy or
> plastics. This approach would significantly reduce the mass to be
> launched from Earth, making missions more economical.

You seem to think there's free energy available there.  You
need O2 to oxidize the methane.  So you have to separate water
into hydrogen and oxygen to make O2.

Add up the bonding energies.  I think you will find it takes
more energy to make the O2 than you can get out of the
oxidation.

As far as using hydrogen for fuel, we don't even need to do
any pencil work.  You're turning water into water and hoping
for excess energy.  Not happening.

Now if you have an energy source on Titan, you can make
portable fuel.  Solar is out as the sun is too dim.  The best
you could do is bring a nuclear RTG generator from Earth.

Sorry to rain on your scifi parade.

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I was going to let this one go without comment, but if establishing 
production facilities there must wait for nuclear powered rockets, then 
chemical fuel may no longer be needed.

We might more productively build ocean platforms that convert wave and wind 
energy into hydrogen, oxygen and fresh water.

A return to sailing ships for cargo can also seem tempting, at first.
https://www.wind.coop/en/the-sailing-cargo/

Sailing vessels lost out to steamships despite the fuel savings because they 
depend too much on variable weather and can't meet schedules. The last 
barely profitable cargos were non-perishable nitrate (sea bird poop) from 
Chile, where refueling is limited, and grain from Australia. The owners who 
tried to prolong their use couldn't afford maintenance and treated the 
ageing vessels as disposable, unfortunately that sometimes included the 
crew.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pamir_(ship)

"By 1957, she had been outmoded by modern bulk carriers and could not 
operate at a profit. Her shipping consortium's inability to finance 
much-needed repairs or to recruit sufficient sail-trained officers caused 
severe technical difficulties. On 21 September 1957, she was caught in 
Hurricane Carrie and sank off the Azores, with only six survivors rescued 
after an extensive search."