All Questions
6 questions
11votes
1answer
4kviews
How hard is the hardest ice in the solar system? Is it in Pluto's ice mountains?
NPR's Pluto Has White-Capped Mountains, But Not Because There's Snow includes the following: "Initially, it seemed logical that this high-altitude frost could form like on the Earth," says ...
- 153k
0votes
1answer
128views
Is it possible for aluminium alloys in a explosion in space or on earth to become pure elemental powder particles? [closed]
If you have some kind of explosion, is it then possible for aluminium alloys to become powder particles?, is yes, can they become pure elemental aluminium particles?, or will they always be aluminium ...
4votes
0answers
75views
Hydrocarbons of Titan: Potential Applications
Imagine in the future that some space agency or corporation has deployed a manned mission to Saturn's moon Titan with the intent of collecting samples of its hydrocarbons. This is to be accomplished ...
- 161
12votes
2answers
448views
What mitigation procedures are in place in space systems to prevent whisker growth?
It has been found (from missions like the Long Duration Exposure Facility, LDEF) that some metals, especially tin and cadmium in solders, used in space-electronics assemblies, form crystal whiskers ...
- 1,516
7votes
2answers
107views
Monoatomic species at orbital altitudes
Besides monoatomic oxygen, what other monoatomic or chemically reactive atmospheric or environmental constituents, if any, are present at orbital altitudes that aren't present at lower altitudes, and ...
- 1,516
9votes
2answers
2kviews
Could aluminum undergo a thermite reaction with Martian dust?
From what I understand, Martian dust is primarily composed of iron oxide, which is one ingredient for a thermite reaction. If heated to the proper temperature, would aluminum (possibly powdered) react ...
