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NASA will pay you up to $750,000 to come up with a way to turn CO2 into other molecules on Mars
Missions to Mars will need to be as lean as possible, meaning that using any available resources on the Red Planet will be of utmost importance. With that in mind, NASA just announced the CO2 Conversion Challenge, which asks teams of scientists and inventors to come up with a way to turn CO2 into molecules that can be used to produce all manner of things. And there's big prize money on the line.
To start, NASA is asking teams to focus on converting CO2 to Glucose, but the language of the challenge suggests you can approach that goal from any angle you wish.
[...] Teams or individuals who want to participate will need to register by January 24, 2019, and then officially apply by February 28. Experts will review each plan and award up to $250,000 spread across up to five individuals or teams.
The next phase of the competition is still a bit light on details. NASA says it'll announce the rules and criteria once Phase 1 is complete, but the administration has revealed that it's ready to award up to $750,000 to the individual, team, or teams that can demonstrate that their system(s) work as intended and could be used by astronauts on Mars.
"Future planetary habitats on Mars will require a high degree of self-sufficiency," NASA explains. "This requires a concerted effort to both effectively recycle supplies brought from Earth and use local resources such as CO2, water and regolith to manufacture mission-relevant products. Human life support and habitation systems will treat wastewater to make drinking water, recover oxygen from CO2, convert solid wastes to useable products, grow food, and specially design equipment and packaging to allow reuse in alternate forms."
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Wednesday September 05 2018, @10:46PM (1 child)
Kudzu, or whatever that invasive vine on my wall is. Send a seed, land on mars needing a machete to cross the habitat.
With enough headroom, bamboo grows like hell, and is useful and edible. May not be the best at photosynthesis, but it's gotta be pretty good.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday September 05 2018, @11:42PM
You forgot your >sarcasm tag? I'm pretty certain that bob_super realizes that the kudzu and the bamboo have to grow INSIDE of the human habitats. It wouldn't do to have the kudzu crawling up the walls, and weakening the walls. Or, to have the bamboo scratching at the ceiling/roof, and eventually piercing the top of the habitat.
But, your post can be used to point out that any plant growth is going to have to be monitored, forever. Pollen will be getting into EVERYTHING, which could be very bad. Moisture might be deadly, if allowed to accumulate in, on, or near equipment. Roots penetrating in the wrong places could be as bad as either of the previous potential problems. The spread of seeds into the wrong places will have to be watched for. Some volunteer crops might sound nice, until some kind of grass starts growing from a control panel - maybe the controls of an airlock.
This is a case where "zero tolerance" may be the only policy possible!
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.