Cryo Depot Boil-Off vs ISRU Resupply (2D)

An orbital or cislunar propellant depot is a race between physics and production: sunlight and structural conduction constantly leak heat into the cryogenic tank, boiling off a slice of the propellant every hour, while an in-situ resource utilization plant tries to manufacture new propellant from local water ice faster than the tank loses it. This 2D cross-section view renders the same depot physics as the 3D version — a liquid-filled tank wrapped in tunable multi-layer insulation, a deployable sun shield, and an active cryocooler — driven by the real heat-leak and latent-heat-of-vaporization balance. Tune insulation layers, shield deployment, cryocooler power and ISRU production rate for LOX, methane or hydrogen and watch live readouts for heat leak, boil-off rate and net fill rate decide whether the depot fills up or slowly empties over simulated mission days. Drag to pan and scroll to zoom the tank diagram.