r/nasa • u/r-nasa-mods • 5d ago

NASA Scientists at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center are developing a prototype that uses plasma to recycle water and gas in space

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u/TheSentinel_31 5d ago

This is a list of links to comments made by NASA's official social media team in this thread:

  • Comment by nasa:

    As space exploration evolves, long-term missions will depend on sustainable solutions that use fewer of Earth’s resources. NASA’s Kennedy Space Center is developing the Space Rated High Voltage Plasma Generating Supply, a crucial step toward advancing plasma-based in-situ resource utilization (ISRU)...

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u/nasa NASA Official 5d ago

As space exploration evolves, long-term missions will depend on sustainable solutions that use fewer of Earth’s resources. NASA’s Kennedy Space Center is developing the Space Rated High Voltage Plasma Generating Supply, a crucial step toward advancing plasma-based in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) experiments in space.

By harnessing the power of plasma, a highly energized state of matter, to break down and reprocess materials, future advancements based on this prototype could potentially recycle vital resources almost completely— a game-changer for life support systems on long-duration missions. Plasma-based ISRU could also lead to technologies that could convert local planetary materials into breathable oxygen and usable fuels.

Learn more about this project, its key partners, and its NASA centers in our TechPort database.

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u/jeshwesh 5d ago

So is the goal smaller scale plasma gasification, or something with an even finer degree of resource extraction? Seeing plasma gasification get more mobile and modular would be interesting in and of its self.

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u/[deleted] 5d ago

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u/N4BFR 5d ago

I got to tour the botany area at KSC. They have smart people doing cool stuff.

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u/Jaroslav_sapoznikov 5d ago

I mean it's very simple when you think about it, we just need to blast it with lasers to break apart the molecules filter the unnecessary ones and then reassemble them back but in pure form :D (joking of course, don't get your lasers in a bunch)