U.S. Space Shuttle

Alkaline fuel cells (AFCs). The electrolyte is 40 to 70% KOH, the working temperatures are 60 to 240°C. Such systems were used in the spacecraft of the Apollo program and in the U.S. space shuttle. 

After it has been separated, hydrogen is an unusually clean-energy carrier and clean enough for the U.S. space shuttle program to use hydrogen-powered fuel cells to operate the shuttle s electrical systems while the by-product of drinking water is used by the crew. 

The U.S. Space Shuttle, for example, has two large solid-rocket boosters for its launch stage. The booster propellant has the following composition ... 

Perchlorates are the most oxidized of the salts of the chlorooxyacids. Although perchlorates are not particularly toxic, ammonium perchlorate (NH4C104) should be mentioned because it is a powerful oxidizer and reactive chemical produced in large quantities as a fuel oxidizer in solid rocket fuels. Each of the U.S. space shuttle booster rockets contains about 350,000 kg of ammonium perchlorate in its propellant mixture. By 1988, U.S. consumption of ammonium perchlorate for rocket fuel uses was of the order of 24 million kg/year. In May 1988, a series of massive explosions in Henderson, Nevada, demolished one of only two plants producing ammonium perchlorate for the U.S. space shuttle, MX missile, and other applications, so that supplies were severely curtailed. The plant has since been rebuilt. 

Liquid hydrogen fuel powers the rockets of the U.S. space shuttle. 

Rayon-based carbon fibers, on the other hand, have low thermal conductivity and are, therefore, used for thermal insulation purposes. Examples include the nose cone and leading edges of the U S Space Shuttle Orbiter. Isotropic pitch-based carbon fibers are also used for insulating purposes because of their low thermal conductivity. 

The reusable booster rockets of the U.S. space shuttle use a mixture of aluminum and ammonium perchlorate for fuel. A possible equation for this reaction is... 

The fcc/hcp stability question is not easily addressed experimentally either. However, studies of colloidal hard spheres [161], including zero-gravity crystallization experiments performed on the U.S. space shuttle [162], indicate too that fee is the more stable phase, although stacking faults are pervasive [163]. Pronk and Frenkel [28] have applied molecular... 

Drinking water and humidity condensate samples collected from U.S. Space Shuttle and the Russian Mir Space Stations are analyzed routinely at the NASA-Johnson Space Center as a means of verifying water quality and monitoring the environment of the spacecraft. Anions and cations were determined by ion chromatography whereas carboxylates and amines were determined by CE (phthalate/TTAB for carboxylates and imidazole/HIBA for amines). Results showed that Shuttle water is of distilled quality whereas Mir-recovered water contains various levels of minerals. Organic ions were rarely detected in potable water samples but were present in humidity condensates. 

The reaction of hydrogen with oxygen is highly exothermic and occurs rapidly once it starts. It can occur with explosive violence, as demonstrated by the explosions of the German airship Hindenburg in 1937 (V FIGURE 5.15) and the U.S. space shuttle Challenger in 1986. 

The human venture in space is also under stress as the U.S. space shuttle program ends without another human-carrying vehicle to replace it. The future of the one remaining space station is in doubt, and there are no plans to build another. 

Vera (2) designed experiments to be performed in a "Get Away Special (GAS) canister on the U. S. space shuttle. The apparatus consisted of a pair of... 

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