Harvesting Mars

(Ron Baalke) writes:
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2...riticalco2.htm

Harvesting Mars
NASA Science News
August 20, 2003

A NASA-supported scientist is learning how to use carbon dioxide--the main
gas in Mars' atmosphere--to harvest rocket fuel and water from the red
planet.

August 20, 2003: When astronauts first go to Mars, it'll be difficult for
them to bring everything they need to survive. Even the first tentative
explorations could last as long as two years--but spaceships can only carry
a limited amount.

"We might have to do what explorers have done for ages: live off the land,"
says chemical engineer Ken Debelak of Vanderbilt University.

Explorers on Earth could usually count on finding what they needed. The
animals might be strange, but they'd be there, and they'd be edible. Mars is
barren. But the challenge is the same. Astronauts will want to pull what
they need from the planet itself. And although that goal seems improbable,
Debelak believes it can be achieved. He's working on a NASA project to make
it happen. The key, he says, lies in the Martian atmosphere.
...

This sounds a lot like what Zubrin wrote in "The Case for Mars"
several years back. Besides being labeled as being from a
NASA-supported scientist, how is this different? (Although I believe
Zubrin did at least part of his work with support from NASA as well.)

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| "Good and evil both increase at compound
Ben Hocking, Grad Student | interest. That is why the little
| decisions you and I make every day are of
| such infinite importance." - C. S. Lewis
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Ashlie Benjamin Hocking wrote:
(Ron Baalke) writes:

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2...riticalco2.htm

Harvesting Mars
NASA Science News
August 20, 2003

A NASA-supported scientist is learning how to use carbon dioxide--the main
gas in Mars' atmosphere--to harvest rocket fuel and water from the red
planet.

August 20, 2003: When astronauts first go to Mars, it'll be difficult for
them to bring everything they need to survive. Even the first tentative
explorations could last as long as two years--but spaceships can only carry
a limited amount.

"We might have to do what explorers have done for ages: live off the land,"
says chemical engineer Ken Debelak of Vanderbilt University.

Explorers on Earth could usually count on finding what they needed. The
animals might be strange, but they'd be there, and they'd be edible. Mars is
barren. But the challenge is the same. Astronauts will want to pull what
they need from the planet itself. And although that goal seems improbable,
Debelak believes it can be achieved. He's working on a NASA project to make
it happen. The key, he says, lies in the Martian atmosphere.
...


This sounds a lot like what Zubrin wrote in "The Case for Mars"
several years back. Besides being labeled as being from a
NASA-supported scientist, how is this different? (Although I believe
Zubrin did at least part of his work with support from NASA as well.)

IIRC correctly Zubrin's plan was to get CO and O2 from the atmosphere
for fuel and water. Doing a few other things like bringing along
hydrogen to get CH4.

Debelak also wants to use super pressurized CO2 as a solvent. Dissolve
rocks to get magnesium & other stuff.

It is encouraging to see Zubrin's philosophy of using in situ resources
is becoming widely accepted.

Hop
http://clowder.net/hop/index.html