Re: Titan, the interplanetary gas station

"Jim Wilkins" <[email protected]> wrote:
> "Jeremiah Jones"  wrote in message 
> 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.
> 
> --------------------------------------
> 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.

Nobody said anything about nuclear rockets.  I was talking
about using a nuclear power plant to make chemical fuel.
Although realistically Titan is not a very good place to do
that.