NASA has picked two project proposals and awarded it $2M for further development. The said project will develop oxygen recovery technologies. It will help astronauts breathe a little easier on deep space during long missions.
The agency is said to invest two million dollars and 24 months to further develop and launch the project proposals. NASA has posted that they will turn the proposals into a full-scale integrated system for NASA testing. The selected proposals are: Phase II Methane Pyrolysis System for High-Yield Soot-Free Recovery of Oxygen from Carbon Dioxide - Honeywell Aerospace in Phoenix and Continuous Bosch Reactor - UMPQUA Research Co. in Myrtle Creek, Oregon.
According to Yahoo, Steve Jurczyk of NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) in Washington is hoping that these project proposals will better the science and technology that supports the astronauts in their travel into deep space. "The selected proposals represent the best value to the agency and strong investments for STMD," the associate administrator also said.
This project will further develop oxygen recovery technologies. Since only 50 percent of the oxygen is recovered from the exhaled carbon dioxide of the astronauts, the remaining oxygen needed is transferred from Earth. Now, it is very difficult for NASA to send the oxygen needed to those astronauts in deep-space and long-duration missions. This project will target to solve that problem.
NASA's target is to answer the problem. Their solution is to get 75% of the oxygen back from the exhaled carbon dioxide. To do just that, NASA's 'Next Generation Life Support Spacecraft Oxygen Recovery' will develop technology that will increase the recovery of oxygen. It will help astronauts in deep space and long-duration missions to use more oxygen and transferring is not an issue anymore.
The awards were given by Game Changing Development (GCD) program within STMD. It is NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, which manages the GCD program. The GCD program is funded by STMD that is the creator of new technologies and on-the-edge developments. They are supporting the entire future space mission with their developments.
