The Fuel of the Future?

CARSTEN COSTARD

Mikhail Eremets (left) and Ivan Troyan stand by the 

apparatus they used to create what they believe to be 

metallic hydrogen

Is metallic hydrogen the key to future space travel? Many believe this is so.  The fuel is very lightweight, powerful, and is theorized to be found on Jupiter and Saturn.  Water is the fuel's only after use by-product and the fuel creates up to five times the efficiency of liquid H₂/O₂, the fuel that the Space Shuttle previously used.  The only draw back to this source of power is that it has not yet been officially created.  In 2011 the men shown above, believe they created the metallic form of hydrogen by pressing the gas form between two diamond tips until the pressure reached 270 billion pascals (270 G Pa), or about 2 million times Earth's atmospheric pressure at sea level.  This amount of force caused the gas to turn into a metal for a brief moment, but this is still highly questioned.  If this form of hydrogen can be created on Earth it would be a huge advance for deep space travel because it would allow for deep space refueling at the giant gas planets.       

Finally Liftoff

The United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket with NASA’s Orion spacecraft mounted atop, lifts off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Space Launch Complex 37 at at 7:05 a.m. EST, Friday, Dec. 5, 2014, in Florida.

Image Credit: 

NASA/Bill Ingalls

The Orion crew module splashed down in the Pacific Ocean about 600 miles southwest of San Diego.

Image Credit: 

NASA TV

After much anticipation and a whole extra day of waiting Orion was finally launched into orbit around the Earth.  At 7:05 EST Friday December 5 Orion took off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on top of the United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket.  The original launch date, December 4, was scrubbed after many difficulties with high winds, a boater, and a valve issue on the Delta IV Heavy Rocket.  The launch time was continuously pushed back until the two hour and thirty minute launch window starting at 7:05 was over.  Friday, however was a success all around.  Orion took off at the planned 7:05 and returned to Earth at 11:49.  The flight was seen as major success by all of the parties associated with the rocket and capsule.  The purpose of the mission was to test the separation systems, radiation shields, and return systems of the rocket.  By just watching the liftoff and return the separation and return systems worked like they were designed to.  The parachutes on the return of Orion slowed the module down from 20,000 mph to 20 mph before the rocket landed in the Pacific Ocean.  NASA is reporting good signs from the initial data they have received from the rocket so far for its radiation shields.  Overall this launch is another huge step for deep space exploration and for mankind.