• jarfil@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Condensation is one thing, hydrogen leaking straight through the metal is another.

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogen_embrittlement

    It isn’t a problem if you fill up a container with liquid hydrogen right before your trip, the trip lasts less than an hour, then you discard the container and let it burn up on reentry.

    It is a problem though, if you intend to fill up the same container multiple times, keep hydrogen in it for hundreds of hours, and subject it to vibrations.

    Another problem is that even in its liquid state, while the energy density to weight ratio is great, its energy density per volume is pitiful:

    Meaning, a plane could carry the same energy in 3 times less weight of fuel, which is great, but still need 8 times larger deposits to do it, which would mess up the aerodynamics… and would still have a high chance of springing a leak.

    It’s no coincidence that SpaceX is using liquid methane for its reusable rockets.