Centauri Spaceworks has an excess of main engine fuel at its shipyard. Every week a new fuel silo is sent up from HOM to replenish the supplies. All of the thruster propellant goes to refueling the station builder tugs that have been busy constructing new ships and stations. Without having to travel long distances, the tug's fuel tanks remain almost full of main engine fuel and only need a small topping off each week. The nearly full main fuel tanks have started stacking up.
Lead Engineer, Alrick Fons, has proposed a use for all this extra main engine fuel: turn it into power. Centauri Spaceworks has a need for a compact power source for its spaceships designs. Alrick designed a fuel cell that will convert the fuel and oxidizer into power. Water is also produced as a by product of the reaction.
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| Fuel Cell module concept |
The fuel cell is estimated to produce up to 120 units of power. It has storage equivalent to an ATV. At full capacity it contains enough fuel to power the module for 30 minutes. This also results in two full containers of water. Fuel consumption can be reduced if the power load is reduced.
In order to avoid power outages, the fuel tank has an auto refill feature. When enabled, it automatically turns on the fuel pump when the tank falls below 1/4. It shuts off when the tank is full, or when there is no remaining fuel to pump.
Alrick has also suggested that this process could be reversed as well. He has top engineers at Centauri Spaceworks are working on developing a module to convert water and power into thruster propellant. This will reduce the amount of fuel silos that need to be launched each month to support to work constructing spaceships. Look for more information about the fuel manufacturing module in a future update.
