Description: CU Aerospace (CUA) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) propose to develop novel plasma reactors for the generation of useful carbon products, to meet the objectives of in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) in future NASA missions. Plasma techniques offer the possibility of adaptation to various environments containing carbon dioxide, including both Martian planetary and habitable atmospheres. Moreover, the planned approach can be adapted for utilization of carbon dioxide generated by industrial processes, enabling pathways to recycle waste carbon dioxide streams into useful products. The team will focus its research on generating ethylene, considering it to be a high-value target, as it is a feedstock for making various useful industrial products. The planned technological studies will combine the efficacy of various plasma approaches for splitting carbon dioxide along with novel methods for introducing hydrogen co-reactants, and determine the ethylene selectivity of the plasma reactor approaches. Successful demonstrations would have the benefit of supplanting existing industrial methods for generating ethylene (e.g., steam cracking), which use significant power resources and contribute significantly to the global carbon emissions. With the goal of realizing benefits of ISRU in future NASA missions, and in response to the strong need for addressing carbon-cycle issues in terrestrial industrial applications, the CUA-MIT team proposes to advance CO2 plasma reactors by: (1) developing an end-to-end extraction and transformation concept, (2) studying size, weight, power, and lifecycle of system components, (3) conducting experimental and computational studies to evaluate the feasibility of critical subsystems for operation in a Martian environment, (4) developing models of system scaling, throughput, and efficiency for carbon product generation, and (5) conducting a preliminary design for a prototype testbed to be revised and built in a Phase II effort

Benefits: The proposed work supports NASA taxonomy interests TX07: Exploration Destination Systems, specifically TX07.1 In-Situ Resource Utilization, and also TX03: Aerospace Power and Energy Storage. The proposed plasma reactor scheme is focused on generation of high value-added products from in-situ resources collected from the Martian environment, and it can also be adapted for collection from habitable environments. The STTR is anticipated to increase the TRL of plasma devices for ISRU and other roles in future robotic and human exploration. The plasma reactor technology is expected to have commercial applications for generation of ethylene and other valuable products. CUA envisions that the approach can be adapted to anthropogenic carbon dioxide sources, resulting in a variety of beneficial outcomes. An appealing goal is to reduce the energy requirements and pollution linked with ethylene production and other hydrocarbon products.