Why There Is Need For Propellant Depots In Space

By Linda Sullivan


Refueling processes have become more intensive and badly needed for space travel today. Actually the necessity is more or less for automatic processes and may not even involve astronauts or cosmonauts to be there. The system is highly automated and so too will be space flights or orbit rocket launches that do not have human passengers.

The majority of work needed in space is answered by robots and automated flights, from provisioning orbiting stations crewed by humans to satellite repairs. All the needed flights will have a vital service that provides them fuel, and this is answered today by propellant depots. These maintain geosynchronous orbits at certain strategic points on near earth space.

These could even work like satellites, ones providing fuel. They do have similar operating principles with things like weather satellites. The main difference between them is how the depots will have attached containers for the propellant fuels, and they might also serve as stations for the next phase of longer travels through the heavens.

The flights that are made today are even farther than the ones made in earlier eras. The Chinese, French, British, Russians, Indians and Japanese have their own space programs. ESA and NASA are also cooperating with any of these nationalities, and many nations in fact are all developing their own programs in this field.

These could simply be for weather and communications concerns, but their units or their modules all need servicing in refueling terms. Propellants though are not needed by units that are already in orbit, which could run for a very long time on their self contained batteries. The moving units are those which need propellants the most.

Missions to Mars, the moon and other planets, experimental tourism, and other such concerns will have to use the depots in order to work. These things need to be launched from earth, transported by rockets, and should be fully operant or orbit ready when delivered to the orbit point. The most workable are those that are full packed and working.

However, even this will need the depot to be deployed properly. Again, the concern is to have everything automated, especially when the need is for a unit to set up in space. The deployment could simply be a blossoming of extensor arms, platforms and solar pieces, and the lock in mechanisms could be controlled with digital programs.

The monitoring could be done on ground stations, since the remote connections available are strong and reliable enough. Even the docking and the boom and jib process for transferring the fuel is now run by machines. These are precisely programmed and when correctly maintained or serviced, will work perfectly.

Accidents today will not be connected to these depots or refueling processes. Later, things like security installations could be needed to help protect them when there could be lots more cosmic travelers. But in the current scene only a very select few could go into orbit and they undergo rigorous training and vetting and are not likely to cause any accidents related to human factors.




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