KECK INSTITUTE FOR SPACE STUDIES

       

Addressing the Mars ISRU Challenge: Production of Oxygen and Fuel from CO2 using Sunlight

June 28 - July 1, 2016
California Institute of Technology - Pasadena, CA 91125

Final Report

Workshop Overview:

An ongoing challenge in the long-term campaign to explore Mars is the mass and complexity involved in transporting consumables from Earth to the Martian surface. Key resources are oxygen and fuel, which are planned to be used for a robotic ascent vehicle to return samples from Mars. These resources are also critical for providing a breathable atmosphere, as a reactant for power generation from fuel cells, and for the production of other consumables necessary for human missions on Mars.

Previous studies have shown that in situ resource utilization (ISRU) provides a viable pathway for supplying the fuel and oxygen to these missions by reducing readily available carbon dioxide from the Martian atmosphere. Ambient carbon dioxide reduction is likely to minimize or even eliminate the need to transport the large quantities of supplies from Earth to Mars. To successfully support these missions, however, large amounts of fuel and oxygen (e.g., 10 metric tons per Martian year) will still be needed, necessitating development of high-volume approaches to carbon dioxide reduction.

This Keck Institute Space Science study will examine the photoelectrochemical production of fuel (such as carbon monoxide) and oxygen from carbon dioxide on the Mars surface. Rather than using high temperature processes dependent on power generated from solar arrays, sunlight would be used directly with a catalytic process to effect the low temperature conversion of carbon dioxide to carbon monoxide and oxygen using large area deployable photoelectrochemical panels.

These proposed workshops and meetings will bring together experts in this field to develop a path forward for solving the Mars ISRU challenge via the low temperature, efficient production of oxygen and fuel from carbon dioxide. The main technical goals will be to identify specific photoelectrochemical pathways that are well suited for carbon dioxide reduction in the unique Mars environment, as well as viable designs for scalable Mars oxygen and fuel production devices.


Tuesday, June 28, 2016

Lees-Kubota Lecutre Hall- 101 Guggenheim Building - Caltech

Short Course: In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) on Mars

Introductory Lectures - Open to all interested students, researchers and faculty

Time
Event
Speaker

8:00 - 8:30

Coffee and Refreshments

8:30 - 8:45

Logistics / Introduction

Michele Judd

Team Leads

8:45 - 9:30 ISRU: State of the Art and System-Level Consideratons Jerry Sanders

9:30 - 10:15

Overview of the Surface and Atmosphere of Mars: Challenges and Opportunities

David Kass

10:15 - 10:45

Break

10:45 - 11:30

ISRU on Mars: Challenges, Current Status, and Prospects

Mike Hecht

11:30 - 12:15

Overview of Photoelectrochemical Devices for Conversion of CO2 and Water to Oxygen and Fuels

CX Xiang

12:15 - 12:30

Discussion

All

12:30 - 1:30

Short Course Ends: Informal Lunch is Provided on Mall Outside of Guggenheim

Invitation-Only Workshop Begins

Keck Center - Think Tank, Room 155

1:30 - 1:45

Walk to Keck Center, pick up badge and welcome packet, find seat in the Think Tank

1:45 - 2:30

Workshop Logistics and Introduction to KISS

Michele Judd

Beverley McKeon

2:30 - 3:00

Participant Introductions

Michele Judd

3:00 - 3:30

Study Vision and Goals for This Workshop

Team Leads

3:30 - 4:00

Break

4:00 - 5:00

Finalize Study Vision and Workshop Goals via Plenary Discussion

Team Leads

5:00 - 5:30

Solicitation of Lightning Talks: Energetics and System Design

Team Leads

5:30 - 6:00

Pack Up and Walk to the Athenaeum

All

6:00

KISS-Hosted Dinner at the Athenaeum


Wednesday, June 29, 2016

Keck Center - Think Tank, Room 155

Special Topics in Energetics and System Design - Short Talks

Time
Event
Speaker

8:00 - 8:30

Coffee and Refreshments

8:30 - 8:45

Logistics

Michele Judd

8:45 - 9:00

Day 2 Workshop Objectives and Goals - Introduction of Special Topics Areas: System Energetics and High Level System Design

Team Leads

9:00 - 9:30

Special Topic: PEC Energetics

Jeff Greenblatt

9:30 - 10:15

Lightning Talks (3)

TBD by Participants

10:15 - 10:45

Break

10:45 - 11:15

Selection of Breakout Groups and Topics

All

11:15 - 12:15

Breakout Groups Meet

Groups

12:15 - 12:30

Group Picture, Walk to the Athenaeum

12:30 - 2:00

KISS-Hosted Lunch at the Athenaeum

2:00 - 2:45

Report Out from Breakout Groups (15 mins each)

Groups

2:45 - 3:30

Lightning Talks (3)

TBD by Participants

3:30 - 4:00

Break

4:00 - 4:15

Selection of Breakout Groups and Topics

All

4:15 - 5:30

Breakout Groups Meet

Groups

5:30 - 7:30

POSTER SESSIONS and KISS-Hosted Informal Food Truck Dinner at the Keck Center (dinner starts at 6:30pm)


Thursday, June 30, 2016

Keck Center - Think Tank, Room 155

Time
Event
Speaker

8:00 - 8:30

Coffee and Refreshments

8:30 - 8:45

Logistics

Michele Judd

8:45 - 9:00

Progress Update: Goals for Day 3

Team Leads

9:00 - 9:45

Report Outs from Breakout Groups (15 mins each)

Groups

Special Topics in Materials and Components - Short Talks

9:45 - 10:15

Special Topic: Cell Design and Materials Selection for PEC

Joel Haber

10:15 - 10:45

Break

10:45- 11:15

Lightning Talks (2)

TBD by Participants

11:30 - 12:30

Breakout Group Meet

All

12:30 - 2:00

Lunch on Your Own

2:00 - 2:30

Free Think Time (individual or self organizing small groups)

All

2:30 - 3:30

Breakout Group Meet (continued)

All

3:30 - 4:00

Break

4:00 - 4:45

Report Outs from Breakout Groups (15 mins each)

Groups

4:45 - 5:30

Plenary Discussion, Selection of Final Breakout Groups

All

5:30

Pack Up and Walk to Athenaeum

All

6:00

KISS-Hosted Dinner at the Athenaeum (with spouses and significant others)


Friday, July 1, 2016

Keck Center - Think Tank, Room 155

Time
Event
Speaker

8:00 - 8:30

Coffee and Refreshments

8:30 - 8:45

Logistics

Michele Judd

8:45 - 9:00

Progress Update: Goals for Day 4 (what success looks like at the end of this workshop)

Team Leads

9:00 - 10:15

Breakout Groups

All

10:15 - 10:45

Break

10:45 - 12:30

Breakout Groups

All

12:30 - 2:00

KISS-Hosted Lunch at the Athenaeum

2:00 - 3:30

Open Discussion of Breakout Group Recommendations and Group Feedback

All

3:30 - 4:00

Break

4:00 - 4:45

Interim Study Activities and Assignments - Group Discussion

All

4:45 - 5:00

Workshop Closeout

Michele Judd

5:00

Workshop Concludes


  • Xenia Amashukeli – Caltech
  • Shane Ardo – University of California, Irvine
  • Harry Atwater – Caltech
  • Christopher Bates – Caltech
  • Erik Brandon – JPL
  • Wen-Hui (Sophia) Cheng – Caltech
  • John Graf – NASA JSC
  • Jonathan Grandidier – JPL
  • Jeffery Greenblatt - Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
  • Joel Haber – Caltech
  • Michael Hecht – MIT
  • Stephen Hoffman – Science Applications International Corporation
  • John Hogan – NASA Arms Research Center
  • Frances Houle - Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
  • Simon Jones – JPL
  • David Kass – JPL
  • Clifford Kubiak – University of California, San Diego
  • Amir Mazaheripour - University of California, Irvine
  • Brendon McNicholas – Caltech
  • Anne Meier – NASA
  • Adam Nielander – Caltech
  • Arvind Ramachandran – Arizona State University
  • Gerald Sanders – NASA JSC
  • Samuel Schreiner – JPL
  • Valerie Scott – JPL
  • Ellen Stechel – Arizona State University
  • Karl Walczak - Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
  • Will West – JPL
  • Chengxiang ("CX") Xiang – Caltech
  • Almagul Zhanaidarova – UCSD

Short Course Presentations

Michael Hecht

MIT

ISRU on Mars: Challenges, Current Status, and Prospects
(slides included here (31.2 MB pdf), but were not shown during talk)
(video)

David Kass

JPL

Overview of the Surface and Atmosphere of Mars:Challenges and Opportunities
(31.8 MB .pdf)
(video)

G. B. Sanders

NASA Johnson Space Center

Mars ISRU: State-of-the-Art and System Level Considerations
(3.3 MB .pdf)
(video)

CX Xiang

Caltech

Overview of Photoelectrochemical Devices for Conversion of CO2 and Water to Oxygen and Fuels

(23.3 MB .pdf)
(video)


Workshop Presentations

Shane Ardo

UC Irvine

Ultra-Light Weight PEC and Chemistry/Purity Information

(850 KB .pdf)

Harry Atwater

Caltech Campus

Ultralight Photovoltaic Power and Fuel Tanks

(2.14 MB .pdf)

Michael Hecht

MIT

MOXIE: Mars Oxygen ISRU Experiment - Reference Technology

(36.5 MB .pdf)

Clifford Kubiak

UC San Diego

A Chemical Approach to Carbon Dioxide Reduction Without Protons

(3 MB .pdf)

G. B. Sanders

NASA Johnson Space Center

Mars Water Mining for Future Human Exploration
(1.3 MB .pdf)

Optical Waveguide Solar Thermal System for Oxygen Production from Lunar Regolith

(984 KB .pdf)

Ellen B. Stechel

ASU

Redox‐Active Metal Oxide‐Based Solar Thermochemical Fuels
(4.54 MB .pdf)