Methane-based rocket fuel can be produced on MARS in a one-step process that uses zinc and a small portable device, physicist claims
- Experts have devised a plan for astronauts to get enough fuel to return to Earth from Mars – by making methane-based fuel on the surface of the Red Planet.
- Physicists use materials found on Mars, such as zinc and carbon dioxide
- Zinc will be used as the catalyst to cause a reaction in the carbon dioxide
- It will then begin the process of creating the methane based fuel
- Other processes have suggested that a nickel catalyst be used to transport hydrogen and carbon dioxide in high temperature and pressurized environments
Physicists at the University of California, Irvine have solved an urgent problem for astronauts: How can astronauts have enough fuel to travel back to Earth from Mars?
The idea of making methane-based fuel on the Red Planet has been floating around in the scientific community for years, but many suggest methods that require large facilities and multiple steps.
Houlin Xin and his team at UCI have now designed a process that uses a single-atom zinc catalyst, enabling just one step with a small portable device.
This method disperses zinc anatomically and serves as a synthetic enzyme that catalyzes carbon dioxide, both of which are found on Mars, to begin the process of producing methane-based fuel.
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Physicists at the University of California, Irvine (UCI) have solved an urgent problem for astronauts – how can astronauts have enough fuel to travel back to Earth from Mars?
The idea of producing methane on Mars to repel rockets was initially conceived by Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX.
SpaceX’s Raptor rocket in progress with Starships traveling to Mars runs on methane and Musk is working on ways to fill his rockets for the return trip to Earth.
Musk proposes to use a solar infrastructure to generate electricity, which leads to the electrolysis of carbon dioxide, which produces methane when mixed with water from the ice found on Mars.
This is the same method, called the Sabatier process, which is used at the International Space Station to convert water for astronauts into breathable oxygen.
The idea of making methane-based fuel on the Red Planet has been floating around in the scientific community for years, but many proposed methods have required large facilities and multiple steps.
The idea of producing methane on Mars to repel rockets was initially conceived by Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX. SpaceX’s Raptor rocket (pictured) going on with Starships traveling to Mars running 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 plant.
And while it’s successful in the massive orbital laboratory, Xin knows it’s not efficient on Mars.
Its process requires less space and can work on the Red Planet using materials such as zinc and carbon dioxide, as well as work in the extreme environment.
“The process we are developing bypasses the water-to-hydrogen process, and converts CO2 instead with a high selectivity methane,” Xin said.
Houlin Xin and his team at UCI have now designed a process that uses a single-atom zinc catalyst, enabling just one step with a small portable device. This method disperses zinc anatomically to act as a synthetic enzyme that catalyzes carbon dioxide, both of which are found on Mars, to begin the process of producing methane gas fuel.
The key to the new and simpler method is the discovery of the use of zinc as a catalyst.
“Zinc is fundamentally an excellent catalyst,” Xin said.
“It has time, selectivity and portability – a big advantage for space travel.”
Despite the breakthrough, the process that Xin is developing is still a ‘proof of concept’, which means that it was successfully manufactured in a laboratory, but that it does not have to be done under real-world conditions.
“A lot of engineering and research is needed before it can be fully implemented,” he says. “But the results are very promising.”