{"id":4796,"date":"2022-09-23T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-09-23T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/?p=4796"},"modified":"2022-09-08T05:50:36","modified_gmt":"2022-09-08T05:50:36","slug":"its-not-just-rocket-science-hidden-chemistry-powers-moon-launches-and-sustains-life-in-space","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/its-not-just-rocket-science-hidden-chemistry-powers-moon-launches-and-sustains-life-in-space\/","title":{"rendered":"It\u2019s not just rocket science \u2013 hidden chemistry powers Moon launches and sustains life in space"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n \n SpaceX<\/a>, CC BY-NC<\/a><\/span>\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n\nCurtis Ho<\/a>, University of Tasmania<\/a><\/em><\/span>\n\n

Many around the world will watch eagerly this Saturday as NASA launches Artemis I<\/a>, the agency\u2019s first Moon exploration mission since the 1970s.<\/p>\n\n

The spectacle involves the most powerful rocket in the world: the Space Launch System (SLS)<\/a>. Standing at nearly 100 metres tall and weighing more than 2,600 tonnes, the SLS produces a massive 8.8 million pounds of thrust \u2013 (more than 31 times the thrust of a Boeing 747 jet<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n

But it\u2019s not just amazing engineering that\u2019s behind rocket science and space exploration. Hidden within, there\u2019s clever chemistry that powers these fantastic feats and sustains our fragile life in space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fuel and the spark<\/h2>\n\n

To launch a rocket into space, we need a chemical reaction known as combustion. This is where fuels are combined with oxygen, producing energy as a result. In turn, that energy provides the push (or thrust) needed to propel mammoth machines like the SLS into Earth\u2019s upper atmosphere and beyond.<\/p>\n\n

Much like cars on the road and jets in the sky, rockets have engines where combustion takes place. SLS has two engine systems: four core stage RS-25 engines<\/a> (upgraded space shuttle engines) and two solid rocket boosters<\/a>. And chemistry is what provides a unique fuel mixture for each engine.<\/p>\n\n

The core stage engines use a mixture of liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen, whereas the solid rocket boosters, as the name suggests, contain a solid propellant \u2013 a hard, rubber-like material called polybutadiene acrylonitrile. In addition to being fuel itself, this material contains fine particles of aluminium metal as fuel, with ammonium perchlorate as the oxygen source.<\/p>\n\n

While fuel for the solid rocket boosters is easily stored at room temperature, the core stage engine fuels need to be stored at -253\u2103 for liquid hydrogen and -183\u2103 for liquid oxygen. That\u2019s why you see sheets of ice shearing off rockets upon liftoff \u2013 the fuel vessels are so cold, they freeze moisture from the surrounding air.<\/p>\n\n

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But there\u2019s another bit of interesting chemistry that happens when we need to light the fuel. Depending on the fuel source, rockets can be ignited electrically through a glorified spark plug\u2026 or chemically.<\/p>\n\n

If you\u2019ve ever watched a space launch and heard talk about \u201cTEA-TEB ignition\u201d, that\u2019s referring to triethylaluminium and triethylborane<\/a>. These two chemicals are pyrophoric \u2013 meaning they can catch fire spontaneously when exposed to air. <\/p>\n\n

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Sustaining life amongst the stars<\/h2>\n\n

It\u2019s not just rockets that are fuelled by chemistry. Life support systems in space rely on chemical processes keeping our astronauts alive and breathing \u2013 something we on Earth often take for granted.<\/p>\n\n

We all know the importance of oxygen, but we also exhale carbon dioxide as a toxic waste product when we breathe. So, what happens to carbon dioxide in the sealed environment of a space capsule like the ones in the Apollo Moon missions or on the International Space Station (ISS)?<\/p>\n\n

Remember Tom Hanks trying to fit a square peg into a round hole<\/a> in the movie Apollo 13? Those were carbon dioxide scrubbers that NASA used for removing this toxic gas from the interior of space capsules.<\/p>\n\n

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