Feasibility of rocket propellant production on Mars

Ash, Robert L.; Dowler, Warren; Varsi, Giulio

doi:10.1016/0094-5765(78)90049-8

Cited by 116 publications

(47 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…In the late 1970's, it was first proposed as a way of generating oxygen [7,8] for a spacecraft on the Mars surface, a so-called In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) technology. Richter [9] performed some initial experimental work on Pt/ YSZ/Pt cells, measuring polarization curves under various operating conditions and determined the critical potential at which the solid electrolyte material (8 mol% YSZ) is reduced and oxygen is extracted from the electrolyte.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Carbon dioxide reduction on gadolinia-doped ceria cathodes

2008

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AC impedance spectroscopy has been performed on 40 mol% gadolinia-doped ceria electrodes on yttria stabilized zirconia (YSZ) at 700-950°C in reducing CO/CO 2 atmospheres. Area-specific-resistance (ASR) values for this electrode were in the range of 0.8-37 Ω-cm 2 , about two orders of magnitude lower than measurements on Pt electrodes and slightly lower than data on Ni-YSZ electrodes in the literature under similar temperature and partial pressure of oxygen (P O 2 ) conditions. A continuum-based model of this electrode is described and an analysis performed to extract the vacancy diffusion coefficient (D v ) and surface exchange rate coefficient (R 0 ) as a function of temperature and P O 2 , from the impedance results. The D v data agree reasonably well with published measurements of the tracer diffusion coefficient (D ⁎ ) based on isotope profiling by secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS) and conductivity measurements on 40 mol% GDC. The R 0 values are a factor of 3 lower than the published measurements of the surface reaction rate (k) obtained from isothermal thermogravimetric relaxation, and decrease with increasing P O 2 . Values of the thermodynamic factor (A) calculated from the fitted model parameters matched well with those calculated from oxygen nonstoichiometry data in the literature. Published by Elsevier B.V.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Carbon dioxide reduction on gadolinia-doped ceria cathodes

2008

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“…Two methodologies for production of propellants on Mars received the most attention for nearly three decades after pioneering research by Ash et al [1]. One of them postulates production of CO and O 2 by electrolysis of the Martian CO 2 in a zirconia cell for use as a liquid bipropellant in rocket engines [1][2][3][4][5][6].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Metal-CO2 Propulsion for Mars Missions: Current Status and Opportunities

Shafirovich

Varma

2008

Journal of Propulsion and Power

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“…1 The electrolysis of CO 2 was studied mainly for the production of oxygen over platinum or palladium electrodes on SOEC and produced carbon monoxide was treated as an undesired side product, which was converted back into CO 2 . [2][3][4][5][6] It is, however, not cost effective to use noble metals as an electrode material due to their higher price and limited amount. Furthermore, carbon monoxide, which is an important reducing agent, has potential importance in chemical industries as it is one of the principle components of the synthesis gas (CO/H 2 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Performance and Stability of Solid Oxide Electrolysis Cell for CO2 Reduction under Various Operating Conditions

et al. 2014

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In this study, effects of operating conditions on the electrochemical reduction of CO 2 on solid oxide electrolysis cell (SOEC) were systematically investigated. Experimental results revealed that the reducing gas can influence the behavior of Ni-YSZ cermet cathode. Supply of hydrogen as a reducing gas was found to be the most promising approach to obtain better cell performance for CO 2 reduction. Even a small amount of H 2 can facilitate the CO 2 reduction due to the kinetically fast reverse water gas shift reaction. High temperature operation is favorable from thermodynamic viewpoint because the Gibbs free energy significantly decreases at elevated temperature. The partial pressure of oxygen at the cathode side is another critical factor that found to be beneficial. A considerable increase in cell voltage was observed when Ni-YSZ | YSZ | LSM-YSZ cell operated under constant current densities of −0.75 and −0.90 A cm −2 at 900°C, whereas the stable cell performance could be possible at −0.15 A cm −2 for 7 h. The increase in cell voltage was attributed to the degradation of anode.

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Feasibility of rocket propellant production on Mars

Cited by 116 publications

References 22 publications

Carbon dioxide reduction on gadolinia-doped ceria cathodes

Carbon dioxide reduction on gadolinia-doped ceria cathodes

Metal-CO2 Propulsion for Mars Missions: Current Status and Opportunities

Performance and Stability of Solid Oxide Electrolysis Cell for CO2 Reduction under Various Operating Conditions

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