Tanks isolated against heat

Could a tank be isolated against heat via the material the Shuttle's tiles are made of or the MESSENGER's sunshade?

Or would that be a tank that is too heavy?

Could the stages or the tanks be sourrounded by two hulls separated by a vacuum?



Dipl.-Volkswirt (bdvb) Augustin (Political Economist)

Heatshield tiles are actually not that great as insulators (they just have a higher failing temperature); the foam that's used on the Shuttle ET is actually far better. And yes, a vacuum structure can, theoretically, be used, and is the best insulator possible. However, the structural stresses are great enough that it ends up losing efficiency to the foam-type insulators: a vacuum requires extra structure (which is metal, and therefore conducts heat well), while a foam can add to structural integrity (and therefore can reduce both the amount of metal, and the total weight, of the structure).

Might be tanks kept in space could be kept cool if the sunshade of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is applied.

According to the article "Huge Sun Shield Built for Space Telescope" ( www.space.com/businesstechnology/081203 ... -webb.html )

This will be achieved at L2. The shield is as large as a tennis court - perhaps larger and thicker shields made of the same material - - might allow for similar cooling even at Venus perhaps (for example).

If that could be achieved hydrogen depots or oxygen depots orbiting Venus would become possible.

Which thoughts?



Dipl.-Volkswirt (bdvb) Augustin (Political Economist)