A growing interest in space technology is creating rocket fuel from the existing conditions on Mars. According to Interesting Engineering, one of the teams of scientists that are exploring this idea is from the University of Cincinnati who is looking to convert greenhouse gases to rocket fuel that will both address climate change on Earth and cheaper options to power space vehicles.
Researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology have thought of bioproduction that uses three resources that are native to the Red Planet that could be used to launch future astronauts back to Earth.
Building Future Mars Gas Stations
The recent study by researchers from the University of Cincinnati, titled "Regulation of Functional Groups on Graphene Quantum Dots Directs Selective CO2 to CH4 Conversion" published in Nature Communications, focused on using a carbo catalyst within a reactor that will turn carbon dioxide into methane, which in turn could be used as fuel for future rockets.
Interesting Engineering reported that this approach relies on the "Sabatier reaction" that is being used by the International Space Station to remove carbon dioxide inside the floating laboratory and generate drinking water and methane.
In a news release shared by Phys.org, the team said that their technology could allow astronauts to bring just half the fuel while producing the rest that they need to return from Mars given that the atmosphere on Mars is comprised completely of carbon dioxide.
Professor Jingjie Wu remarked that the project would be like a gas station on Mars that astronauts could easily pump the carbon dioxide needed for the reactor to generate methane for their rocket.
But to do that, Wu said that they hope to find the most efficient way to recycle carbon dioxide. As of now, their experiments involve different catalysts, such as graphene quantum dots, that allow a greater yield of methane.
As to whether methane-powered rockets could be the new thing in the future, Interesting Engineering reported that SpaceX and Blue Origin, as well as NASA, have been testing rocket engines that use liquid methane as a fuel for Mars landers and other spacecraft.
In a tweet, Elon Musk said that SpaceX is looking at employing the Sabatier reaction by using wind and solar power to convert carbon dioxide to methane.
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Using Biotechnology to Produce Rocket Fuel on Mars
Another idea for using Mars resources is from the Georgia Institute of Technology in which researchers developed a concept that would make a Martian rocket fuel. They thought of employing biotechnology to launch future astronauts back to Earth.
According to Science Daily, the bioproduction process involves three resources that are present on Mars: carbon dioxide, sunlight, and frozen water.
But they are also incorporating two microbes that will be transported to the Red planet, which are cyanobacteria that will take carbon dioxide from the Martian atmosphere and use sunlight to create sugars and an engineered E. coli that will convert those sugars into propellant for rockets.
This new rocket engine propellant is called 2,3-butanediol that can be created using E. cole and is used to make polymers for the production of rubber here on Earth.
Although they are also proposing using alternative biotechnology that utilizes in situ resource utilization (bio-ISRU) strategy that produces liquid oxygen and carbon dioxide to make propellants on Mars in hopes of reducing mission cost and generating clean oxygen to support future human colonization on the Red Planet.
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