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Team Prepares OSCAR Technology for Suborbital Flight Test

NASA's Orbital Syngas Commodity Augmentation Reactor (OSCAR) is assembled in the Space Station Processing Facility.
OSCAR is an Early Career Initiative project at the spaceport that studies technology to convert trash and human waste into useful gasses such as methane, hydrogen and carbon dioxide.

From left, team members Annie Meier, Malay Shah and Jamie Toro assemble the flight hardware for NASA’s Orbital Syngas Commodity Augmentation Reactor, or OSCAR, on Oct. 10, 2019, in the Space Station Processing Facility at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

OSCAR is an Early Career Initiative project at the spaceport that studies technology to convert trash and human waste into useful gasses such as methane, hydrogen and carbon dioxide. By processing small pieces of trash in a high-temperature reactor, OSCAR is advancing new and innovative technology for managing waste in space.

The technology would reduce the amount of space needed for waste storage within a spacecraft, turn some waste into gasses that have energy storage and life support applications and ensure waste is no longer biologically active. The OSCAR team at Kennedy is finalizing the construction of a prototype rig for suborbital flight testing. Such tests facilitate technology maturation, validate feasibility of a payload and reduce technical risks for future missions.

Learn more about OSCAR in Kennedy’s Rocket Ranch Podcast, Episode 7: Turning Space Trash into Gas.