Inflatable fuel tanks

Does anybody know if Bigelow inflatable technology could be used for
making fuel/oxydizer tanks? The main weight problem for a Mars mission
is the fuel/oxydizer. With inflatable technology it would be possible
to launch all the combustible *and tanks* using a small vehicle. The
capital costs for designing, building and operate a small reusable LV
probably are within the possibilities of private companies. NASA could
buy fueled tanks in orbit for using for their missions at far less
price than using Ares V.

On Sun, 16 Jul 2006, apozo wrote:

Does anybody know if Bigelow inflatable technology could be used for
making fuel/oxydizer tanks? The main weight problem for a Mars mission
is the fuel/oxydizer. With inflatable technology it would be possible
to launch all the combustible *and tanks* using a small vehicle. The
capital costs for designing, building and operate a small reusable LV
probably are within the possibilities of private companies. NASA could
buy fueled tanks in orbit for using for their missions at far less
price than using Ares V.

It's been looked into.
Stress upon takeoff put upon the membrane makes this notion unmanagable.

Does anybody know if Bigelow inflatable technology could be used for
making fuel/oxydizer tanks? The main weight problem for a Mars mission
is the fuel/oxydizer. With inflatable technology it would be possible
to launch all the combustible *and tanks* using a small vehicle. The
capital costs for designing, building and operate a small reusable LV
probably are within the possibilities of private companies. NASA could
buy fueled tanks in orbit for using for their missions at far less
price than using Ares V.

It's been looked into.
Stress upon takeoff put upon the membrane makes this notion unmanagable.

Are you talking about the same mission?

The suggestion was to launch the tanks empty on a small vehicle,
inflate the tanks, launch the fuel with several separate flights of
the same small vehicle, and fill the tanks on-orbit.

Of the top of my head, I don't see why the takeoff stress would be any
worse than for launch of a Bigelow/TransHab-style habitat.

"Jim Kingdon" wrote in message
news
Does anybody know if Bigelow inflatable technology could be used for
making fuel/oxydizer tanks? The main weight problem for a Mars mission
is the fuel/oxydizer. With inflatable technology it would be possible
to launch all the combustible *and tanks* using a small vehicle. The
capital costs for designing, building and operate a small reusable LV
probably are within the possibilities of private companies. NASA could
buy fueled tanks in orbit for using for their missions at far less
price than using Ares V.

It's been looked into.
Stress upon takeoff put upon the membrane makes this notion unmanagable.

Are you talking about the same mission?

The suggestion was to launch the tanks empty on a small vehicle,
inflate the tanks, launch the fuel with several separate flights of
the same small vehicle, and fill the tanks on-orbit.

Of the top of my head, I don't see why the takeoff stress would be any
worse than for launch of a Bigelow/TransHab-style habitat.

Would the inflatable tank be a middle man we don't need? One could transfer
fuel directly from small rockets to the vehicles that needs it. It's
possible to take an inflatable tank to Mars and ditch it later. We might
use nuclear fuel to reach Mars.

In article .com,
apozo wrote:
Does anybody know if Bigelow inflatable technology could be used for
making fuel/oxydizer tanks? The main weight problem for a Mars mission
is the fuel/oxydizer. With inflatable technology it would be possible
to launch all the combustible *and tanks* using a small vehicle...

The idea is not ridiculous; "bladder tanks" are used for in-the-field fuel
storage in some Earthly applications. Some of the early proposals for
space-station-assembled deep-space vehicles suggested such tanks, e.g.
von Braun's 1952 "Das Marsprojekt" calls for "fabric-reinforced plastic"
tanks.

But making oxidizer-compatible flexible tankage could be challenging. My
first guess would be that it's possible with some care for peroxide, a
challenge for N2O4 or nitric acid, and formidably difficult for LOX.
--
spsystems.net is temporarily off the air; | Henry Spencer
mail to henry at zoo.utoronto.ca instead. |

On Sun, 16 Jul 2006, Jim Kingdon wrote:

Does anybody know if Bigelow inflatable technology could be used for
making fuel/oxydizer tanks? The main weight problem for a Mars mission
is the fuel/oxydizer. With inflatable technology it would be possible
to launch all the combustible *and tanks* using a small vehicle. The
capital costs for designing, building and operate a small reusable LV
probably are within the possibilities of private companies. NASA could
buy fueled tanks in orbit for using for their missions at far less
price than using Ares V.

It's been looked into.
Stress upon takeoff put upon the membrane makes this notion unmanagable.

Are you talking about the same mission?

The suggestion was to launch the tanks empty on a small vehicle,
inflate the tanks, launch the fuel with several separate flights of
the same small vehicle, and fill the tanks on-orbit.

Whoops. This is a different idea.

Of the top of my head, I don't see why the takeoff stress would be any
worse than for launch of a Bigelow/TransHab-style habitat.

Takeoff stress is lessened to Earth escape from orbit.