Among the many challenges with a Mars voyage, one of the most pressing is: How can you get enough fuel for the spacecraft to fly back to Earth?

Houlin Xin, an assistant professor in physics and astronomy, may have found a solution.

He and his team have discovered a more efficient way of creating methane-based rocket fuel theoretically on the surface of Mars, which can make the return trip all more feasible.

The novel discovery comes in the form of a single-atom zinc catalyst that will synthesize the current two-step process into a single-step reaction using a more compact and portable device.

"The zinc is fundamentally a great catalyst," Xin says. "It has time, selectivity and portability - a big plus for space travel."

The process of creating methane-based fuel has been theorized before, initially by Elon Musk and Space X. It utilized a solar infrastructure to generate electricity, resulting in the electrolysis of carbon dioxide, which, when mixed with water from the ice found on Mars, produces methane.

This process, known as the Sabatier process, is used on the International Space Station to produce breathable oxygen from water. One of the main issues with the Sabatier process is that it is a two-stage procedure requiring large faculties to operate efficiently.

The method developed by Xin and his team will use anatomically dispersed zinc to act as a synthetic enzyme, catalyzing the carbon dioxide and initializing the process. This will require much less space and can efficiently produce methane using materials and under conditions similar to those found on the surface of Mars.

"The process we developed bypasses the water-to-hydrogen process, and instead efficiently converts CO2 into methane with high selectivity," Xin says.

Currently, rockets created by Lockheed and Boeing use liquid hydrogen as fuel for the rockets. While it is cheap and effective, this fuel source has its drawbacks. Liquid hydrogen leaves carbon residue in the engine of the rocket, which requires cleaning after each launch; something that would be impossible on Mars.

Space X and Elon Musk have developed and are currently testing a methane fuel-based engine, known as the Space X Raptor. Raptor will power Space X's next generation of spacecraft named Starship and Super Heavy. At this time, neither have made it into orbit, and only one has consistently taken flight.

Despite the breakthrough, the process developed by Xin is far from implementation. Currently they only have a "proof of concept," meaning that while it has been tested and proven in a lab, it has yet to tested in real world - or planet - conditions.

"Lots of engineering and research is needed before this can be fully implemented," he says. "But the results are very promising."

Related Links
University of California, Irvine
Mars News and Information at MarsDaily.com
Lunar Dreams and more

Tweet

Thanks for being here; We need your help. The Space Media Network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceMediaNetwork Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal		SpaceMediaNetwork Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only

InSight 'Mole' payload ends operations on Mars
Pasadena CA (JPL) Jan 15, 2021
The heat probe developed and built by the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and deployed on Mars by NASA's InSight lander has ended its portion of the mission. Since Feb. 28, 2019, the probe, called the "mole," has been attempting to burrow into the Martian surface to take the planet's internal temperature, providing details about the interior heat engine that drives the Mars' evolution and geology. But the soil's unexpected tendency to clump deprived the spike-like mole of the friction it needs to hammer i ... read more