/sci/ - Science & Math

>>14616259
I'm not sold on water propellent for interplanetary spacecraft over higher performing alternatives, but for operation within a gravity well it's hard to beat. Water based MET is low cost, it has more thrust than most other types of electric propulsion, twice the Isp over chemical which enables a much greater payload, and since water is basically a low pressure non-toxic storable its very easy to integrate with a launch vehicle. That last part is a bigger deal than you might think, SpaceX literally banned Spaceflight Inc. from future launches because they had a leak on a rideshare mission.

You could use it to refuel a depot at EML-2 which would be a great departing point for outgoing low thrust spacecraft or chemical spacecraft that want to save ~3 km/s over departing in LEO.

>>12701105
The radiation hazard is only in the Van Allen Belts, which are well inside geostationary altitude. I admit you couldn't have shit in L4/L5 by itself, but lots of people agree an L1 station would be useful. If you built one of those, then a station in L4 or L5 is only 300 meters per second away. That's not much