Methane-based rocket fuel can be manufactured in MARS in a one-step process that uses zinc and a small portable device, says the physicist
- Experts have devised a plan for astronauts to get enough fuel to return to Earth from Mars, making methane-based fuel on the surface of the red planet
- Physicists use materials found on Mars, such as zinc and carbon dioxide
- Zinc would be used as a catalyst to cause a reaction to carbon dioxide
- The process to create methane-based fuel would then begin
- Other processes have suggested the use of a nickel catalyst to interact with hydrogen and carbon dioxide in high temperature and pressurized environments.
Physicists at the University of California, Irvine, have decided to solve an urgent problem for space travelers: how can astronauts have enough fuel to return to Earth from Mars?
The idea of making methane-based fuel on the red planet has been floating around the scientific community for years, but many are proposing methods that require large facilities and multiple steps.
Now, Houlin Xin and his ICU team devised a process that uses a one-atom zinc catalyst, allowing only one step with a small portable device.
This method anatomically disperses zinc to act as a synthetic enzyme that catalyzes carbon dioxide, found on Mars, to initiate the process of making methane-based fuel.
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Physicists at the University of California, Irvine (UCI), have decided to solve an urgent problem for space travelers: how can astronauts have enough fuel to return to Earth from Mars?
The idea of making methane on Mars to power returning rockets was originally conceived by SpaceX CEO Elon Musk.
The SpaceX Raptor rocket, which is ready to power spacecraft traveling to Mars, runs on methane, and Musk is working on developing ways to refuel his rockets for the trip back to Earth.
Musk proposes to use a solar infrastructure to generate electricity, resulting in the electrolysis of carbon dioxide which, when mixed with water from ice on Mars, produces methane.
This is the same method, called the Sabatier process, that is used on the International Space Station to transform water into breathable oxygen for astronauts.
The idea of making methane-based fuel on the red planet has been floating around the scientific community for years, but many methods proposed methods that require large facilities and multiple steps.
The idea of making methane on Mars to power returning rockets was initially conceived by SpaceX CEO Elon Musk. The SpaceX Raptor rocket (pictured) that is ready to power spacecraft traveling to Mars, runs on methane
The Sabatier process uses a nickel catalyst to interact with hydrogen and carbon dioxide at extremely high temperatures and pressures, a two-stage procedure that must be done in a large facility.
And while he is successful in the massive orbiting lab, Xin knows he is not efficient on Mars.
Its process requires less space and can work with materials, such as zinc and carbon dioxide, on the red planet, as well as work in an extreme environment.
“The process we have developed avoids the water-to-hydrogen process and instead converts CO2 into methane with high selectivity,” Xin said.
Now, Houlin Xin and his ICU team devised a process that uses a one-atom zinc catalyst, which allows only one step with a small portable device. This method anatomically disperses zinc to act as a synthetic enzyme that catalyzes carbon dioxide, found on Mars, to initiate the process of making methane-based fuel.
The key to the new simpler method is the discovery of the use of zinc as a catalyst.
“Zinc is basically a great catalyst,” Xin said.
“It has time, selectivity and portability, a big advantage for space travel.”
Despite the breakthrough, the process developed by Xin remains a “proof of concept,” meaning it has been successfully produced in a laboratory, but has yet to be done in real-world conditions.
“It takes a lot of engineering and research before this can be fully implemented,” he says. “But the results are very promising.”