Elon Musk Wants SpaceX To Use Carbon Dioxide As Rocket Fuel

Billionaire space tinker and Twitter raconteur Elon Musk announced that SpaceX will make carbon dioxide (CO2) rocket fuel.

Given that the atmosphere on Mars is 95 percent carbon dioxide, Musk is most likely doing this project to prepare for the long voyage back to Earth. However, if we can utilize up (or blast out) part of the planet's surplus CO2, the process might be beneficial to Earth.

SpaceX is starting a program to take CO2 out of atmosphere & turn it into rocket fuel. Please join if interested.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 13, 2021

According to 2019 statistics from the US Environmental Protection Agency, CO2 is a gas that accounts for up to 80% of Earth's greenhouse gas emissions.

How CO2 Rockets Work

Many in government and the media are obsessed with human-induced climate change produced by greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, The Hill said. Musk's suggestion has intriguing ramifications for the problem, as well as the allegations that he intends to quit Earth and live on Mars. The initiative will not only aid in the mitigation of climate change on Earth, but it will also assist Musk in achieving his goal of establishing a settlement on Mars.

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Making CO2 rocket fuel is the simple portion of the concept. CO2 is combined with hydrogen and a catalyst in a century-old process devised by Nobel Laureate Paul Sabatier to produce methane and water. Musk's rocket, constructed by SpaceX in Boca Chica, Texas, has liquid methane and liquid oxygen engines. On the International Space Station (ISS), NASA uses the Sabatier system to provide water to the astronauts. The methane is released from the International Space Station.

How Elon Musk Will Use CO2 For His Rocket

The first element of Musk's idea, pulling CO2 out of the atmosphere, will almost certainly be more difficult. The assumption that capturing carbon from the atmosphere will cut greenhouse gas emissions and mitigate climate change is divisive. According to Tech Crunch, a startup named Climeworks in Iceland is working on one such concept. Currently, a ton of carbon dioxide is removed for between $600 and $800, regarded as too costly. To make the project more economically viable, Climeworks hopes to cut the cost to between $100 and $200 per metric ton (also known as tonne).

Sequestering CO2 straight from power plants is another method of carbon capture. Indeed, NET Power operates a pilot plant in La Porte, Texas, just a few hours' drive from Boca Chica. It burns natural gas while capturing and storing CO2 emissions. Is it possible for Musk to get the CO2 he requires from the NET plant or a comparable source? Musk, ever the environmentalist, may be hesitant to transport the gas to Boca Chica via a diesel-fueled tanker truck. Would Tesla be interested in working on an electric tanker truck?

In any event, for his projected Mars civilization, Musk is keen on developing both carbon collection from the air and Sabatier technology. The plan is to collect CO2 from the Martian atmosphere and hydrogen from water ice, transforming them into rocket fuel for spacecraft returning to Earth from Mars.