Generated Hydrogen in Microgravity as an Energy Source on Board of a Spacecraft

Abstract

During the years of short-term space flights, the air regeneration of the cabin of the spacecraft, the provision of astronauts with water, rocket engine fuel, and the power supply system with electricity were carried out at the expense of reserves, but their mass increases in direct proportion to the duration of the flight and the number of the new crew. Therefore, in long-term orbital space flights, it is necessary to use systems based on the regeneration of oxygen, hydrogen, and water from human waste products to reduce the cargo flow of cargo ships. This is the recovery of drinking water from the condensate of atmospheric moisture and urine, the production of oxygen and hydrogen by electrolysis of the purified condensate or urine of the crew, followed by the replenishment of the cabin air of the spacecraft with oxygen, its engine with oxygen-hydrogen fuel and its power supply system with electricity due to hydrogen fuel. Previously, the author presented a theoretical description of the mechanism of formation of negatively charged electrolysis hydrogen and oxygen bubbles under microgravity conditions, which was confirmed experimentally, to permit the establishment of the horizontal movement of negatively charged electrolysis hydrogen bubbles in water from the cathode, where they were formed, to the anode due to the arising electrostatic force of attraction between the bubbles and the anode, and the horizontal movement of positively charged electrolytic oxygen bubbles in water from the anode, where they were formed, to the cathode due to the resulting electrostatic attractive force between the bubbles and the cathode. As a result, a concentrated gas-liquid mixture was formed in the anode zone along the entire length of the anode: hydrogen bubbles + water; along the whole length of the cathode, a concentrated gas-liquid mixture was formed: oxygen bubbles + water. Due to the conical shape of the developed generator and its outlets, two gas-liquid mixtures were drained separately into different capsules’ conic forms under microgravity conditions. These two different capsules, equipped with static separators, made it possible to separately obtain gaseous oxygen and hydrogen in microgravity, which opens up new possibilities for getting gaseous oxygen and hydrogen in sufficient quantities by electrolysis microgravity, conducive to long-duration spacecraft flight. The paper presents a method for obtaining gaseous oxygen and hydrogen under microgravity conditions using water electrolysis, conical forms of generator chamber, two outlet valves, and receiving capsules equipped with static separators, which contribute to the production of hydrogen-oxygen fuel for the spacecraft engine and hydrogen fuel for generating electricity for the spacecraft power supply system in sufficient quantities to implementation of long-term space flights.