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If you had a small pressure vessel and a matte black external boiler that could utilize the heat of the sun, would pressurized steam be feasible for maneuvering a small satellite?

Organic Marble
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owegner75
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    Steam rocket questions have been asked here before, but more about boosters IIRC. Here's one https://space.stackexchange.com/q/14975/6944 – Organic Marble Sep 03 '20 at 12:34
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    this is largely what cold gas thrusters do, except they use liquids other than water –  Sep 03 '20 at 12:36
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    Cold gas thrusters are used sometimes, usually with high-pressure nitrogen bottles. For example Europian GAIA astrometric mission uses them for very gentle attitude corrections without disturbance to the observation. GAIA also uses conventional (hydrasine) thrusters for trajectory correction, but rarely. Downside - gas thrusters has several times less delta V. – Heopps Sep 03 '20 at 12:42
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    I mean, LH2/LOX engines use pressurized steam as a propellant. It's just that both the steam and the pressure are created on demand. – Tristan Sep 03 '20 at 14:52
  • @Tristan and it's on fire – Speedphoenix Sep 03 '20 at 15:55
  • Well, LH2 engines run very, very rich, so there's a lot of H in relation to H2O in the exhaust – ikrase Sep 07 '20 at 11:00

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