Re: Titan, the interplanetary gas station - In-Situ Propellants

On 7/11/26 15:59, Jeremiah Jones wrote:
> 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.

If you are saying "it is not easy." - I will agree.

But these people are certainly saying it seems
worthwhile to explore:

citation
https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20210025383/downloads/Titan%20Sample%20Return_AIAA-SciTech_Finals%20(002).pdf

Mission Incredible:
A Titan Sample Return Using In-Situ
Propellants
Geoffrey A. Landis,
1 Steven R. Oleson,
2 Elizabeth Turnbull2
, Jeffrey
Pekosh, Zach Zoloty
NASA John Glenn Research Center, Cleveland, OH 44017
Ralph D. Lorenz3
Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, Maryland 20723
David Smith, Tom Packard, John Gyekenyesi, Anthony Colozza
HX5, NASA John Glenn Research Center, Cleveland, OH 44017
James Fittje
SAIC, 3000 Aerospace Parkway, Brook Park OH 44142
and the NASA Glenn COMPASS team
An analysis of the use of in-situ volatile propellants for a sample 
return mission from Titan
shows that this mission should be feasible. Such a mission would be 
invaluable for its science
return, and its contribution to our understanding