NASA selects two proposals for oxygen recovery during future deep-space missions
NewsFebruary 24, 2017
WASHINGTON. NASA has selected two proposals for the development of oxygen-recovery technologies that could keep astronauts alive and healthy during future long-duration missions to deep space.
A proposal from Honeywell Aerospace (Phoenix, Arizona) aims to develop what it calls a "Phase II methane pyrolysis system" to achieve high-yield, soot-free recovery of oxygen from carbon dioxide while a craft is in deep space. In addition, a proposal from UMPQUA Research (Myrtle Creek, Oregon) seeks to build a continuous Bosch reactor, which recovers oxygen from carbon dioxide in the form of water; a water electrolysis unit is operated in tandem to provide oxygen to the crew. The continuous Bosch reactor operates at high temperatures to achieve nearly 100 percent recovery of oxygen.
The state-of-today's-art oxygen recovery system used on the International Space Station (ISS) recovers about 50 percent of the oxygen from exhaled carbon dioxide; the remaining oxygen required for the crew must be transported to the ISS from Earth. During very long missions beyond low Earth orbit, however, resupplying crew oxygen becomes logistically and economically prohibitive. NASA's Next Generation Life Support Spacecraft Oxygen Recovery project has as its goal to increase oxygen recovery during space missions to 75 percent or higher.
