[amsat-bb] Re: High LEO for cubesat?

[Greg D.]

> On Mon, Aug 24, 2009 at 12:11 PM, Robert Bruninga<bruninga at usna.edu> wrote:
> >
> > For what it is worth, this semester I will finally get a student
> > to work on the 40 year old AMSAT idea of a water rocket.  (Carry
> > water to orbit and use solar power to electrolizie the wate to
> > H2 and O2 and then burn those in a thruster to raise the orbit
> > of a cubesat.
> 
> Bob --
> 

Very interesting concept!  Probably not much in the way of thrust, but the amount of "fuel" that can be created from a little water is pretty large, and we have lots of time.  

But, tell me, in zero gravity, how is the gas separated from the water?  On Earth is just floats to the top, but that doesn't work in outer space.  Is the whole thing spun?

Greg  KO6TH


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