Why Hydrogen Leaks Continue to Be a Major Headache for NASA Launches

Gizmodo ^ | 09/06/2022 | ByGeorge Dvorsky

[Samurai_Jack]

“the smallest molecule in the universe”

That was my first guess before I even read the article.

[cgbg]

This hydrogen thingy is super high tech—hope the woke zombies at NASA can figure it out...

;-)

[Yossarian]

[House Atreides]

This is something to keep in mind when folks dream of hydrogen powered cars.

[Craftmore]

built by lowest bidder contracts?

[ImJustAnotherOkie]

Doesn’t say much for NASA’s testing regimen.

[Yossarian]

Let's try that again:

The 130-foot-tall (40-meter-tall) hydrogen tank shrinks about 6 inches (152 mm) in length and about 1 inch (25.4 mm) in diameter when filled with the ultra-cold liquid

[DuncanWaring]

The guys who built the Saturn V and the Space Shuttle got this to work.

Apparently it’s now a lost art.

[mewzilla]

I grew up with the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs.

60 years later and we’re still using rockets.

Sigh.

[Steely Tom]

It’s not like NASA has been using liquid hydrogen as a fuel for more than fifty years or anything.

[Tijeras_Slim]

Never worked with liquid hydrogen but liquid helium is difficult.

[Magnum44]

[Ezekiel]

But hydrogen—the smallest molecule in the universe—often finds its way through even the tiniest of openings.

[CodeToad]

I guess diversity teams...never mind.

[cdcdawg]

Are we even capable of completing a manned moon mission anymore? I have doubts.

[Libloather]

[LukeL]

If hydrogen (H2) is like helium, it will leak out of everything, even a steel tank.

[JoSixChip]

Because $4.1B is not enough, need another $5B. Or you could just give Elon $1B and be done with it.

[Telepathic Intruder]

Rockets have to carry two or three as much oxygen by weight as fuel, when it’s freely available in the atmosphere. NASA should be spending its money on SCRAMJET research until we have a space plane that can at least match the cost per kilogram of cargo to orbit. It has the potential to far exceed that of rockets.