Bob Sinclar vs The Space Cartels

The polarizations in the world effected the countries' polarizations in the space exploration as well. International collaborations are declining and nationalism in space race is rising. Catching up with the space race requires many improvements to be done in parallel.

Morale and Motivation is one of the key factors and there, Super Hero's come to play. USA is overcrowded with super heroes; British has the Bond and Europe ??

I propose Bob Sinclar - Le Magnifique as the European Super Hero fighting against the global Space Cartel's and their tyrant leaders.

(The spaceship photo is from the Bond movie Moonraker)

 

Sliding Rocket Second Stage with Dry Ice

Cannon assisted Dry Ice Rocket design can be applied to the second stage of the rocket as well. In the first stage, the external heat source to evaporate the dry ice comes from the initial cannon blast and the supersonic air drag. With this design, the second stage of the rocket would be released at a much higher altitude and speed. The high inertial momentum would heat up the dry ice within the second stage. This would provide the initial thrust to the second stage. Then it would unfold its black heat absorbing panels. In atmosphere free environment the black panels would heat up effectively from the sun rays that would allow the second stage to maintain high pressure carbon dioxide for the thrust. Additionally, the sliding payload bay's high inertial momentum would help the pressurized gas production as well.

This approach requires the rocket to be launched at specific times of the day to utilize the sun. The simple and low cost of the design reduces the cost of high energy launches while the second stages are never recovered in such missions. Additionally, the simplicity improves the reliability of the rocket.

Cannon Assisted Dry Ice Sliding Rocket

In Jules Verne's "De la Terre à la Lune", the lunar capsule is send to the moon using a giant cannon. This approach can be turned into reality for some of the space missions.

The geostationary satellite launches, lunar and planetary missions require maximum payload to orbit. Therefore, in most of them even the first stage of the rocket is not recovered. For such missions my idea can be utilized.

Carbon dioxide has the highest vapor pressure among gasses, making it an ideal monopropellant in case of an external heat source. I propose an aluminum shell (good heat conductor and light weight) rocket first stage that has dry ice inside. This rocket will be fired from a giant cannon buried underground. Due to aluminum's low melting temperature, the cannon should have limited explosion power, not to heat the shell of the rocket too much. Once the cannon is fired, the heat generated on the walls of the rocket heats up the dry ice and generates high pressure carbon dioxide gas which is exhausted from the aerospike engines. After the rocket leaves the barrel of the cannon it would cool down. However, the thrust of the engines keep the outer shell of the rocket hot due to supersonic air drag. Coupled with the pressure of the upper stages on the dry ice, the high-pressure carbon dioxide generation is maintained throughout the flight. With this approach, high pressure gas is generated at a lower temperature, negating the need to cool down the aerospike engine. The rocket would have multiple engines which can be throttled independently and precisely using valves to allow thrust vectoring without the use of gimbled nozzles. Making the rocket simpler and lighter.

This approach allows a simple and low cost first stage. After the stage runs out of fuel it would free fall to earth with parachute attached. Then it can be recycled (most of the stage will be aluminum with no complicated rocket engines and exotic materials). Dry Ice Sliding Rocket transfers much more kinetic energy to the upper stages compared to a reusable rocket, due to very high take off speed (zero for the classical rockets) and higher specific impulse. One final advantage of the rocket is that, it can be launched at bad weather as well. The use of cannon, minimizes the effect of the wind on the rocket at lower altitudes. High muzzle velocity and the rifling (helical grooves machined into the internal surface of the barrel) gyroscopically stabilizes the rocket at launch. Classical rockets' slow take-off speed makes them more susceptible to ground winds.

Another Perspective To The Solar System

When the solar system was forming, it was essentially a big ball of dust and gas that was spinning. Then, it began to flatten out due to this spin and settled into a disk structure. I propose a scientific satellite to observe our solar system perpendicular to its orbital plane.

A satellite with solar sail would be accelerated towards the sun. As the satellite approach to the sun, it would adjust its solar sail to gain perpendicular momentum to the orbital plane. Due to sun's strong gravity, it shouldn't approach too near and use its sail to repel itself away from the sun. Finally, it should spiral out from the perpendicular axis of the orbital plane.

The satellite should be small in weight but large in solar sail area, in order to accelerate itself away from the sun, perpendicularly. As a result, we can observe the outside of our solar system, without needing to go beyond Pluto.

Mission Venus

I had previously stated that we should go to Venus then Mars. Going towards the Sun allows effective use of solar sails to reduce propellent requirement and reduce the voyage time. Here is the roadmap for Venus's exploration.

Optimal time for flyby Venus varies from 3.45 to 3.6 km/s from LEO for the optimal time every 19 months (Does it take more energy to get to Venus or to Mars?). The first mission would be the Sun Synchronous Orbiting satellite that serves as a communications relay for the Venus explorer robots. Sun synchronous orbit allows continuous solar power generation reducing the need for high-capacity batteries. Additionally, the satellite would continuously monitor the solar activities for scientific research.

The second mission will be the Venus Explorer. The dense atmosphere of Venus allows aerocapture (Aerocapture). Therefore, Venus explorers do not need heavy shields or extra propulsion to slow down in the descent phase. The dense atmosphere also allows flying above the surface to explore larger areas. The design of the Venus Explorer will be the combination of a balloon and a glider. This will allow the explorer to stay aloft for longer durations without a propellent requirement. The explorer will also be able to descent just above the surface and lower detectors and grabbers to retrieve samples from the surface, then ascent again to explore more regions.

Venus explorer will generate electricity from multiple sources. The first one would be the sun, even though the clouds obscure most of the rays. Venus's day lasts 243 Earth days which allows longer mission times. Additionally, strong winds and high temperature differences allow alternative electric generation methods.

Venus mission would be followed by Mercury and then the Sun. The mysteries of the universe lie within the Stars. Therefore, we should research towards the Sun not away from it. 

Doomsday Electronics For Space

Modern society heavily rely on electronics that have sophisticated manufacturing processes. It is almost impossible to manufacture electronics on the Moon or Mars where humanity is planning to colonize.

I propose the development of vacuum tube based electronics in space, on a robotic space station. These tubes are still used in microwave ovens and x-ray devices. With vacuum tubes you can make almost everything; high energy devices (x-ray, microwave), radio transceivers, cameras, displays and guitar amplifiers :).

The space is vacuum; therefore, the tubes can be designed without a glass shield and most probably smaller. These devices are more resistant to space radiation compared to delicate nanometric electronics. They can be used in some space missions as well. 

On the packaging it would write: Made In Space, Use Only In Space

Scientific Space Strategy?

The latest scientific missions to the Moon made me think. What is the strategy of scientific research in Space? The goals are very ambitious, but the road to achieve them are not that great.

At the moment most of the research is conducted by individual satellites and explorer landers or rovers. The investment on infrastructure has the least priority. Billions of dollars and thousands of hours of human effort are spend for years to conduct several days of research. Obtaining those information a couple years earlier and waiting again for several years to obtain more is an inefficient way of making research in my point of view. In internet I haven't seen any discussion on the efficiency of the scientific space strategy.

I propose an alternative approach for space exploration. Establishing the infrastructure should be the top priority. The scientific experiments can wait a couple of years. After a proper infrastructure is established, the experiments would be conducted more frequently and effectively. The lunar polar communication relay system and satellite sun reflectors to power robots at lunar nights could have been developed by now. Then a climbing robotic lunar explorer could have been send on the south pole to verify the existence of ice.

Space agencies find it more logical and feasible to send humans for space exploration such as Artemis project, then developing a space exploration robot that would outperform humans in every aspect. Agencies keep developing wheeled rovers for surface exploration. The situation is like the pre-iPhone era. Telecom companies kept adding buttons on mobile phones until iPhone. Now the phones have no buttons. I am waiting for that Space Apple to come up with a proper space robot. The sad part of the story is, we don't even have such robots to be used on Earth explorations. With the money and effort spend on the development of toppled lunar landers, a proper extraterrestrial landing technology could have been developed to increase the success rate of future missions.

Is the strategy, every commercial firm should invent the wheel over and over again.

Does It Worth Recovering The Rocket Upper Stages?

The answer is no! If you analyze the successful rockets such as Saturn V and Falcon 9, you would find that their upper stages' dry mass is way lighter than the payload they carry. Optimizing an upper stage for recovery decreases the payload capacity considerably. Therefore, the gain of recovering is highly offset by the payload penalty. Additionally, the reliability becomes a big problem as seen on the exploding Starships.

Also, note that the recovery is only possible for LEO deployments. GTO missions and beyond do not allow upper stage recovery. Designing a rocket is a long process and heading for the wrong direction has major implications.

Polar Orbiting Earth Observation Planes (POEOP)

Earth observation satellites are critical for many reasons which is another topic. My proposition is an alternative to those satellites, using hydrogen powered VTOL planes that can fly at higher altitudes.

There are fully solar powered planes, but they are very fragile and cannot carry advance sensors due to weight limitation.  An efficient hydrogen powered plane with solar panels on the other hand can carry more weight. These planes will refuel on offshore floating wind farms. These wind farms will use the electricity generated to electrolyze the sea water and store the resulting hydrogen to refuel the observation planes. VTOL capability will allow the planes to land on the offshore refueling stations safely.

As the number of observation planes increase, they can be used as communication relays as well. The polar route allows a smaller number of planes to cover the whole world. Unlike satellites that have limited propellent, the planes route and altitude can be altered to conduct more advanced research.

Space-Based Solar Power for the Moon

After reading the article on Astrostrom's Space Option Star in Equatorial Low Earth Orbit. I thought about using this know-how on the Moon.

At the moment main energy source on the Moon is sunlight. Lunar nights are two weeks long and getting sunlight at the poles is quite difficult. Astrostrom's satellite technology can be used on the Moon to direct the sunlight to the poles of the Moon. These Space-Based Solar Power (SBSP) satellites would increase the operability of the Moon explorers even at Lunar nights.

Astrostrom at Soleil-s – the 2nd Solar Biennale

Satellite Space Sharing

In the last decade house sharing, car sharing and other means of sharing have increased with positive return for the society. How about space sharing within a satellite?

For example, governments may come up with satellite designs that have some build in infrastructures which would be shared among the extended modules. The institutions such as universities would build modules that would be a part of this satellite. Therefore, they wouldn't need to deal with complicated task to orbit and maintain a satellite. As a result, more institutions can reach space and more research can be conducted at a much lower cost. Renting a room versus renting the whole house. Don't forget maintaining a satellite on orbit is not an easy task. Which would be delegated to the main satellite operator.

How Green are the Green Rocket Engines?

After reading an article about the Multi-Purpose Green Engine (MPGE), I suddenly realized one thing. What is a green rocket fuel? Is it a propellant combination with no carbon emission like hydrogen and oxygen? It is actually no. A true green rocket fuel has the minimum overall carbon footprint. You cannot ignore the carbon production during the manufacturing of those propellants.

Around 12 kilograms of CO₂ are emitted into the atmosphere for every kilogram of hydrogen produced. “Blue” hydrogen, which combines this process with carbon capture, emits three to five kilograms of CO₂ per kilogram of hydrogen. The blue hydrogen is also misleading. The carbon capturing processes have also a carbon footprint. Nothing is free in life. Actually, the more you complicate the process, the more carbon you emit.

Therefore, a fuel with minimum processing is the ideal fuel. In this case natural gas and methane are the ideal rocket fuels.

Standardized Satellites For Efficient Space Deployment

Deploying satellites to space is not cheap and there is a long que on the launch schedules. There are quite many satellite designing companies with different objectives. I propose the standardization of some satellite designs such that they can be stacked denser. Look at the images below. They are both from the SpaceX payload bay. The one on the left is the mix satellites on a rideshare launch, the one on the right is a Starlink launch.

LEGO like standardized dimensions and attachment points can be defined. So that on a rideshare launch more satellites can be deployed. In logistics the cost is calculated based on the weight and volume. The standardization would lower the deployment costs and standardized parts can be manufactured cheaper, lowering the satellite development cost.

 

Sustainable Mobile Space Portal

Space portals are built close to the shores where the East direction is open sea and the nearby population is low. West Europe is unlucky in that sense. French Guiana is quite far away for logistics. Europe may build sustainable mobile space portals using specially build aircraft carriers. Initially smaller, LEO deploying rockets can be launched from the mobile portal. As the technology matures much bigger versions can be build. This idea requires special rocket and aircraft carrier design.

The rocket would be three staged. The first stage would be a rocket powered plane that would be launched from the carrier. Horizontal take off requires approximately ten percent of the thrust compared to a vertical one like the classical rockets do (Lifting power of air do most of the work). Utilizing multi-wing design increases the lift capability and reduces the runway distance. Coupled with the catapults of the carrier, the rocket can be launched from a special aircraft carrier. The first stage would lift the rocket to 30-40 km altitude and release the second stage there. The second and third stages of the rocket would have classical rocket design. The first stage would than glide back and land on the carrier. The second and third stages would be recovered using The Catcher In The Fly, I had proposed earlier. All the rocket stages will utilize hydrogen as fuel and oxygen as the oxidizer.

The aircraft carrier will also utilize hydrogen as its fuel. Its catapult will work using hydrogen oxygen reaction. The carrier will supply its hydrogen fuel and supplementary oxygen from the offshore wind farms that generate and store hydrogen and oxygen. Floating wind farms can be deployed anywhere because they will only generate and store hydrogen and oxygen. Therefore, they don't need to be connected to land electric grid.

The rocket parts will be transported to the Mobile Space Portal using the first stage, heavy lift plane, of the rocket. The rocket parts transportation, launch facility and the rocket itself will only use hydrogen and oxygen which would be generated from the offshore floating wind farms. 

As a result, End-To-End Space Launch process would have much less Carbon footprint.

Wind Farms For Natural Gas To Hydrogen Transition

Europe has invested billions of Euros for their extensive natural gas pipeline network. Consuming natural gas became problematic in the recent years due to its origin.  On the other hand, Europe is heavily investing on the offshore wind farms.  I propose the building of new generation of wind farms that generate hydrogen and oxygen. The offshore pipelines carrying these gases would then be connected to the existing natural gas pipelines. There are already some ports that have natural gas pipelines connected to the main network. These ports receive Liquified Natural Gas from big tankers. These ports can be used to pump hydrogen to the main natural gas network. The natural gas pipelines can be used to transport hydrogen as stated on an article. "Just like natural gas, hydrogen can be safely transported to the end user by pipeline. The HyWay 27 study shows that the existing natural gas network can be used for the transport of hydrogen, and that this is a necessity in the energy transition." (Hydrogen through natural gas pipelines: safe and sustainable)

During transitioning phase some regions may use hydrogen and natural gas mixture. The HyBlend initiative aims to address technical barriers to blending hydrogen in natural gas pipelines. (Opportunities for Hydrogen Blending in Natural Gas Pipelines)

The wind farms would also generate oxygen which is a raw material used by many industries including healthcare.

Electric Generation from Heat

(I came up with this idea on the early days of October 2024)

A new method of generating electricity using thermionic emission is proposed. The idea is collecting potentially elevated electrons using thermionic emission, quantum tunneling and controlled electric field. The system composes of 6 layers and a special electronic circuitry.

Overall Design: The heat source is thermally insulated on the sides and on the top by the electric generating system. The main source of heat dissipation for the system should be through the emission of electrons.

Layer 1: The purpose of this layer is to form the mechanical base of the electric generating system. It should be good conductor of heat and electricity. Copper or Aluminum can be used for this layer. The ground potential of the system is connected to this layer.

Layer 2: The purpose of this layer is to emit electrons that will determine the electric generation capacity of the system. A low work function metal should be used. Sodium or Potassium can be used. This layer should be as thin as possible. This allows higher emission. These metals are not good at heat transfer so a thicker layer would be less effective.

Layer 3: The purpose of this layer is to form a barrier between the electron emission layer and the electron collecting layer. The thickness of this layer should allow a quantum tunneling of electrons. This reduces the barrier for the electrons to reach the electric collecting layer. Oxide of the electric collecting layer can be used. Aluminum would be a better candidate than copper due to its oxide properties.

Layer 4: The purpose of this layer is to collect the electrons emitted by the emission layer. This layer generates the electricity. This layer is connected to the electric output via a transistor to allow controlled one-way flow of electrons. Due to its oxide properties Aluminum can be used instead of copper.

Layer 5: The purpose of this layer is to form a barrier between the electron collecting layer and the electric field generating layer. This layer can be several nanometers thick. Its thickness would determine the required electric field for electron acceleration. Due to its oxide properties Aluminum can be used instead of copper.

Layer 6: The purpose of this layer is to form an electric field to accelerate the electrons emitted to the collecting layer. The electric field will not be generated using a constant positive voltage but a sinusoidal waveform which fluctuates between positive and negative voltages compared to the ground potential of the system. During the positive cycle of the waveform the electrons are accelerated toward the collecting layer and the output transistor stays open and lets no output current. During zero crossover the output transistor closes and lets electrons flow outside of the collecting layer. The negative cycle of the waveform enhances the electron flow from the electron collecting layer. During the second zero crossover the output transistor opens and the cycle repeats.

A New Approach To Lunar Landers

The latest lunar landers are a small copy of the Apollo lunar lander. I thought about improving their design.

My lunar lander design is composed of two parts. At the bottom there will be the collapsible propellent tank and at the top there will be the lunar explorer. The lander will use acetylene as fuel and nitrous oxide as oxidizer because they are self-pressurizing due to their relatively high vapor pressures. The engine will have aerospike nozzle which is more compact than a vacuum optimized bell-shaped nozzle. There will be at least four fixed engines for braking and maneuvering instead of a single gimbled engine. This adds redundancy. The weight of the explorer and the engine thrust will crush the tank walls to pressurize the propellent.  This eliminates the need of turbopumps and pressurizing helium tanks. Additionally, their collapsible structure cushions the landing impact.

The lunar explorer will have springy legs which function like spiral wheels. During descent they will be curled inside using the wire tensioners. After landing the wire will be loosened to expand the springy spiral legs. (As seen on the image). Some of the benefits of the springy legs: They can be used to lessen the landing impact. If the lander lands in an awkward position, the legs would push the explorer away from the lander and frees it. When the legs extend, they act like a high radius wheel that help to go over obstacles. They can be used to jump over obstacles. They can be used to climb over the crater walls.

As a result, the lunar explorer will explore the lunar surface with all the necessary scientific sensors and machinery onboard. As long as the sun charges its batteries, it can keep exploring larger areas including the basis of the craters.

Rocket Design for Distant Missions

There are different trajectories for space rockets to accomplish different tasks. Deploying satellites to Low Earth Orbit is the easiest and we see weekly launches to that orbit. Geostationary Orbits are harder to achieve and mainly utilized by TV broadcasting satellites.  Much harder are the lunar and planetary trajectories.

Here are some values for Falcon 9, showing the cost of reusing a rocket as reduced payload.

Maximum payload to LEO when expended is 22,800 kg (rocket used once) and 17,500 kg when landing on drone ship (first stage recovered, second stage used once).

Maximum payload to GTO (used to transfer GEO satellites) when expanded is 8,300 kg (rocket used once), when landing on drone ship is 5,500 kg (first stage recovered, second stage used once) and when landing at launch site is 3,500 kg (first stage recovered, second stage used once).

Maximum payload to Mars is 4,020 kg (rocket used once)

As seen from the figures, the potential payload lost due to reusing the first stage is quite high for GTO launches and the rockets are used once for more distant missions.

Falcon 9 first stage with no propellent is 22,200 kg and 433,100 kg with propellent. The second stage with no propellent is 4,000 kg and 111,500 kg with propellent. As you can see, the weight of the rocket is much smaller compared to the total propellent weight. This ratio gets even better for bigger rockets.

If we want to explore the moon and beyond, we should develop cheaper (while they will be used once) and bigger rockets (cost per kg payload decreases). Therefore, usage of stainless steel casing and liquid methane as fuel are logical choices. At the end of the day a rocket is just a large container of rocket propellent with a tiny payload.

Sodium Polytungstate (SPT) Space Cleaner

As a common intuition I thought about using laser pulses to deorbit space debris. Which is an idea well thought about. However, after reading this article Heat Accumulation in Laser-Based Removal of Space Debris I thought about alternative ways of cleaning space debris.

Sodium metatungstate (H₂Na₆O₄₀W₁₂) also referred to as sodium polytungstate (SPT) is widely used to produce "heavy liquid", due to its very high solubility in water (max. density 3.1 g/cm³). Its heavy density is ideal for momentum transfer for deorbiting. Aqueous SPT is non-toxic, non-flammable and has low viscosity.

I propose CubeSats filled with SPT to deorbit small space debris that are dangerous and hard to track. SPT can be jettisoned from the satellite with proper aiming to accelerate the space debris towards the Earth's atmosphere where it would be burned out before touching the ground. SPT can also be used as the cold propellent for the Cleaner Satellite. Simplifying the CubeSat design and reducing the cost. The Cleaner Sat should not contain heat resistant parts such as carbon fiber. When its SPT finishes, it should deorbit itself to Earth and completely burn out in the atmosphere. CubeSats, due to their compact size, can be deployed in large numbers by a single space launch and clean different regions in parallel.

Radium-Tritium Liquid Rocket

Orano Med has laid the foundations for its Advanced Thorium Extraction Facility plant Haute-Vienne, western France. This facility is the world's first industrial plant dedicated to the production of thorium-228, a precursor of lead-212, for radioligand therapies. Therefore, there is an industrial Pb-212 production technology which also produces Radium-224 during the long process.

Radium-224 can be used as an additive in a liquid hydrogen and oxygen rocket. To initiate alpha decay of the Radium-224, I propose to use Tritium or Deuterium as hydrogen source. The heat, pressure and Beta decays inside the combustion chamber may initiate an Alpha decay of Radium which yields energy, Helium (alpha particle) and Radon-220 gases. Therefore, higher temperature and pressure is created inside the combustion chamber compared to standard hydrogen oxygen reaction. Additionally, Helium and higher massed Radon-220 gas is released to enhance the thrust. No solid residue inside the combustion chamber after radioactive decay of Radium. All materials entering the combustion chamber is emitted as hot gases from the nozzle. This would yield a very high specific impulse that is required for the second stage of a rocket to transfer load to GEO, Moon or the planets. Additionally, the alpha decay is initiated by the combustion of hydrogen and oxygen and is not a chain reaction. Therefore, the rocket engine can be started and stopped many times which is a requirement for long space travel.

Lunar Communications Relay and Navigation Systems (LCRNS)

NASA's Lunar Communications Relay and Navigation Systems (LCRNS) project is an initiative aimed at enabling a robust communication and navigation infrastructure around the Moon. Establishing a network of communication relay satellites in lunar orbit will enable continuous and reliable communication between Earth and lunar missions, even in locations where the Earth is not directly visible from the Moon. Today (March 3rd 2025) 2 documents were published for the project "Testset for Cis-Lunar Communications and Navigation" and "Onboard Processing for LunaNet Data Services"

The Lunar Base (Compton–Belkovich Thorium Anomaly) I proposed is on the far side of the Moon, the possible water deposits lay on the South Pole. Therefore, LCRNS is a prerequisite for future Moon and Mars missions. Wish the system was developed by an international consortium rather than NASA alone.

LCRNS Project website

Compton–Belkovich Thorium Anomaly

The Compton–Belkovich Thorium Anomaly is a volcanic complex on the far side of the Moon. It was found by a gamma-ray spectrometer in 1998 and is an area of concentrated thorium.

Space exploration beyond moon requires nuclear propulsion systems such as Radium Rocket Engine, I had proposed earlier. Radium can be obtained from Thorium. The Thorium anomaly on the moon is a perfect location for a Lunar Base. As seen on the image below, there is a hotspot with 10 ppm ore concentration, which is considered a high-grade deposit. It would require much less energy to extract Thorium which would generate more energy to mine more. 

A lunar base at the Thorium anomaly would have the potential to generate electric even at lunar nights. Additionally, byproduct of Thorium 228 decay is Radium 224 which is an ideal nuclear rocket fuel. This fuel can be used to thrust the flying moon explorer robots. Therefore, much larger areas can be explored on the surface. 

Lunar Thorium anomaly would be a perfect re-fueling base for the rockets returning from the moon to the earth and planetary exploration missions.

Solid Oxygen with Embedded Carbon Nano Particles as Rocket Fuel

The thrust of a rocket relies on the velocity of the mass released. Heavier molecules with higher velocity would yield higher thrust. Carbon dioxide has much higher vapor pressure than water vapor. It means, at the same temperature carbon dioxide molecules repel each other much stronger than the water vapor resulting much higher velocity. 

Carbon and Oxygen would be an ideal rocket fuel and oxidizer combo. ALICE rocket inspired my carbon oxygen rocket design. ALICE is a solid rocket fuel made of Aluminum nano particles embedded in Ice. Therefore, Carbon Nano Particles can be embedded inside Solid Oxygen. The densities and molecular weight of Carbon and Oxygen are much closer to each other than Aluminum and Ice. Almost all rockets use liquid oxygen which has a boiling point of –183°C and freezing point of -219 °C. Therefore obtaining solid oxygen is not that hard compared to boiling point of −253°C for hydrogen.

Solidifying the oxygen allows the carbon nano particles stay suspended inside the rocket fuel. I propose this propellent mix to be used in liquid propellent rockets. The solid mix would be melted by special heaters initially and then the heat from the combustion chamber would melt the solid propellent. There would be a single propellent injector per engine while the fuel and the oxygen are premixed in solid form.

The cost of this type of propellent may not be as low as a liquid methane and oxygen combo. However, it would have higher specific impulse which is beneficial for the second stage of the rockets.