NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

For release: 12-08-03
Photo release #: Membranes on Mars

Researchers work on technology to help people go to Mars

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Spacecraft traveling around Mars might one day rely on membranes for fuel and clean air. Membranes are semi-permeable barriers that gases and some liquids can seep through. Researchers at the Center for Commercial Applications of Combustion in Space (CCACS) at the Colorado School of Mines in Golden, Colo., are studying how membranes can be used to extract carbon dioxide from the Martian atmosphere, mix it with hydrogen and produce methane - a potential propellant for rockets or rovers. CCACS is one of 15 Research Partnership Centers funded by NASA to bring industry, academia and NASA experts together to work on research projects. The centers are managed by the Space Partnership Development Program at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. (NASA artwork by Pat Rawlings, SAIC)

 

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These membranes — semi-permeable barriers that gases and some liquids can seep through — are encased in test cells. Future space traveler may use similar lightweight membranes to extract carbon dioxide from the Martian atmosphere. At the Center for Commercial Applications of Combustion in Space (CCACS) at the Colorado School of Mines in Golden, Colo., scientists test the membranes in a special chamber that simulates the Martian environment. The Martian carbon dioxide could be mixed with hydrogen and produce methane — a potential propellant for rockets or rovers. CCACS is one of 15 Research Partnership Centers funded by NASA to bring industry, academia and NASA experts together to work on research projects. The centers are managed by the Space Partnership Development Program at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. (Photo provided by the Colorado School of Miens and Lockheed Martin Corp.)

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