Hating On Propellant Depots
Dan Adamo is a retired flight dynamics officer for the Shuttle program and does space mission trajectory, design and operations in his sleep. I recently saw him put together a design reference mission for a human mission to the moons of Mars, for fun , using only well understood technology. Back in February he did a Space Show Classroom where he discussed many topics and once again demonstrated his effortless grasp of orbital dynamics. A listener asked about propellant depots and Adamo answered with what I think is the most articulate objection to the concept of low earth orbit propellant depots. He went on to talk more favorably about propellant depots at Lagrangian points and on the surface of destinations such as the Moon and Mars, but I think his objections are more interesting. Starting from the ground up, here's where I have problems with propellant depots, in low Earth orbit. Once you establish the depot, it can be empty for all I care at this point, but once you...