NASA Logo

NTRS

NTRS - NASA Technical Reports Server

Due to the lapse in federal government funding, NASA is not updating this website. We sincerely regret this inconvenience.

Back to Results
Martian Environment Electrostatic PrecipitatorAs part of the planned manned mission to Mars, NASA has noticed that shipping oxygen as a part of life support to keep the astronauts alive continuously is overly expensive, and impractical. As such, noting that the Martian atmosphere is 95.37% CO2, NASA chemists noted that one could obtain oxygen from the Martian atmosphere. The plan, as part of a larger ISRU (in-situ resource utilization) initiative, would extract water from the regolith, or the Martian soil which can be electrolyzed by solar panel produced voltage into hydrogen and oxygen. The hydrogen can then be used in the Sabatier reaction with carbon dioxide to produce methane and water producing a net reaction that does not lose water and outputs methane and oxygen for use as rocket fuel and breathing.
Document ID
20160010360
Acquisition Source
Kennedy Space Center
Document Type
Other
Authors
McDougall, Michael Owen
(Seton Hall Univ. South Orange, NJ, United States)
Date Acquired
August 15, 2016
Publication Date
August 5, 2016
Subject Category
Man/System Technology And Life Support
Report/Patent Number
KSC-E-DAA-TN34471
Report Number: KSC-E-DAA-TN34471
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NNX13AJ45A
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Public Use Permitted.
Keywords
Dust
Electrostatic Precipitator
Mars
No Preview Available