Trash to Supply Gas (TtSG) Project Overview

Hintze, Paul E.; Santiago-Maldonado, Edgardo; Kulis, Michael J.; Lytle, John K.; Fisher, John W.; Vaccaro, Helen; Ewert, Michael K.; Broyan, James Lee

doi:10.2514/6.2012-5254

Cited by 13 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 4 publications

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“…Several methods for processing the waste into gas are being evaluated, including pyrolysis, gasification, incineration, steam reforming, ozone oxidation, and catalytic wet air oxidation. 11 While these processes will result in some variation in the product gases, information on the steam reforming process was used in this analysis as a good representation of expected product. With all of the processing methods, there is an option to process the waste in a primary reactor to produce mixed gases consisting primarily of carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, methane, and hydrogen, or to include a secondary reactors and gas/liquid processing components to convert all the gases to high-quality propellants, typically oxygen and methane.…”

Section: Option 2: Convert Waste Into Gas For Use or Disposalmentioning

confidence: 99%

Waste Management Options for Long-Duration Space Missions: When to Reject, Reuse, or Recycle

Linne

Palaszewski

Gökoğlu

et al. 2014

7th Symposium on Space Resource Utilization

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The amount of waste generated on long-duration space missions away from Earth orbit creates the daunting challenge of how to manage the waste through reuse, rejection, or recycle. The option to merely dispose of the solid waste through an airlock to space was studied for both Earth-moon libration point missions and crewed Mars missions. Although the unique dynamic characteristics of an orbit around L2 might allow some discarded waste to intersect the lunar surface before re-impacting the spacecraft, the large amount of waste needed to be managed and potential hazards associated with volatiles recondensing on the spacecraft surfaces make this option problematic. A second option evaluated is to process the waste into useful gases to be either vented to space or used in various propulsion systems. These propellants could then be used to provide the yearly station-keeping needs at an L2 orbit, or if processed into oxygen and methane propellants, could be used to augment science exploration by enabling lunar mini landers to the far side of the moon.

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Section: Option 2: Convert Waste Into Gas For Use or Disposalmentioning

confidence: 99%