Roles of Hydrogen in Space Explorations
Abstract
The various roles of hydrogen in space technology are identified and discussed. The preeminent position of hydrogen as rocket fuel in launch vehicles is explained and illustrated for the NASA Space Shuttle. The history of hydrogen in launching space vehicles is also briefly summarized. The cryogenic aspects of hydrogen for cooling instruments during flight missions are covered for several past and current systems. The technology of Nickel‐Hydrogen batteries is covered. The storage of cryogenic hydrogen to operate fuel cells and to provide potable water is described for the NASA Apollo and Shuttle Missions. Other less well‐known applications of hydrogen and metal hydrides such as gas gap heat switches, fueling hypersonic scramjet flights to Mach 10 speeds, in‐situ resource utilization on lunar or Martian surfaces, and providing ultrapure reference hydrogen to scientific instruments are also described. Finally, some possible future roles for hydrogen in space exploration are identified.
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More than hundreds of launch vehicles used liquid hydrogen and oxygen as fuel and oxidizing agent, including those from the USA, Russia, China, France, and Japan.
“After that, more than hundreds of launch vehicles used liquid hydrogen and oxygen as fuel and oxidizing agent, including USA, Russia, China, France, and Japan. 150”
From Energy system and resource utilization in space: A state-of-the-art review (2024) · cites this paper as [150]
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Тарасов, Б. П., Bocharnikov, M. S., Yanenko, Y. B., et al. (2018) · International Journal of Hydrogen Energy · doi:10.1016/j.ijhydene.2018.01.086 · Cited by 74 · see citing works
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Energy system and resource utilization in space: A state-of-the-art review
Wu, W., Shen, J., Kong, H., Yang, Y., Ren, E., Liu, Z., Wang, W., Dong, M., Han, L., Yang, C., et al. (2024) · The Innovation Energy · doi:10.59717/j.xinn-energy.2024.100029 · Cited by 44 · see citing works
Proton transport through aqueous Nafion membrane
Son, D. N., & Kasai, H. (2009) · The European Physical Journal E · doi:10.1140/epje/i2009-10500-1 · Cited by 15 · see citing works
Yuan, P., Tian, H., Wang, X., et al. (2025) · Thermal Science and Engineering Progress · doi:10.1016/j.tsep.2025.103472 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
- Authors
- Bowman, R. C.
- Affiliations
- California Institute of Technology (US)
- Corresponding author
- Bowman, Robert C.
- ORCID
- Bowman, Robert C.
- Venue
- AIP Conference Proceedings
- Publisher
- AIP
- Published
- 2006
- Volume
- 837
- Pages
- 175-199
- ISSN
- 0094-243X (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W1659145601
- Cited by
- 5
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2025: 1 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 1 · 2018: 1
- FWCI
- 0.61
- Type
- conference paper
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- AIP conference proceedings (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Aerospace Engineering › Spacecraft and Cryogenic Technologies
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Aerospace Engineering › Rocket and propulsion systems research
- Physical Sciences › Materials Science › Materials Chemistry › Hydrogen Storage and Materials
- Keywords
- hydrogen, space exploration, rocket propellants, launch vehicles, NASA Space Shuttle, cryogenic cooling, nickel-hydrogen batteries, cryogenic hydrogen storage, fuel cells, drinking water, metal hydrides, gas-gap heat switch, in-situ resource utilization
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