Just an idea of mine that's been floating around in my head. Honestly, I think I came up with it after playing "No Man's Sky" on PlayStation. Fun game!
The gas detection system constantly detects the presence of hydrogen/oxygen/helium. This triggers a direct-air-capture system that sucks the atmosphere into a collection system, this collection system then cleans/breaks down/separates, and stores useful compounds in storage tanks designed for each type of gas.
This concept is created for use aboard a spacecraft to collect valuable and needed gasses that can be used for fuel and onboard life-sustaining needs.
The reasoning behind this is the push for fusion power powered by hydrogen. We must harness not only the gift of a seemly infinite space to explore but also the gifts that are hidden within that space. We will need to collect these resources and use them to our advantage.
When anyone explores a new place, for eons we have always floated down rivers to those places, using it as a means of travel. There are cold flows of
hydrogen gas rivers that can power our crafts forever. We just need to collect and store these gases. Not hard to do (in my mind I'm a trillionaire many times over lol).
These gases could also be stored on pit stops dotted around deep space in gigantic collection and storage devices designed to run themselves, collecting and storing dozens of gasses we can use for fuel and onboard life-sustaining things like air and water.
Once sorted and stored, these gasses can then be delivered to fuel cells to power craft, electrolysis systems to create water and oxygen. Helium can be used for a multitude of needs such as cooling the fusion reactor, A mixture of 80% helium and 20% oxygen is used as an artificial atmosphere for deep-sea divers and others working under pressure conditions, filling balloons on a planet's surface to provide for air travel.
Further thinking could also expand into drone collection ships racing around space, collecting gasses and bringing them back to the depot to be deposited into tanks for use on planets or to keep element stations filled. Here is a good article from sciencemag.com: https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/10/astronomers-map-galaxy-feeding-hydrogen-filaments-first-time Thanks for reading. I'm sure I have flaws in my idea, what do you think? Comment and let me know :)
