The Columbian 8/24/2019
When people exhale, they breathe out carbon dioxide. The key to providing astronauts with a steady stream of oxygen for long periods of time in space is recycling oxygen contained in the carbon dioxide that people exhale.
Michalek said a promising technology called a Bosch reactor, which URC is currently developing for NASA, could be the most efficient way to recycle oxygen ever developed.
The Bosch reactor uses hydrogen to decompose carbon dioxide that people exhale when onboard a spacecraft. The reaction produces water, which can be separated into oxygen for astronauts to breathe, and hydrogen, which can be recycled to decompose more exhaled carbon dioxide.
But the reaction also produces solid carbon. And figuring out a way to safely contain the solid carbon byproduct is the hard part in developing a Bosch reactor.
“The innovation here is developing an effective way for this reaction to take place and to capture that carbon,†Williams said.
More:
https://www.columbian.com/news/2019/aug/24/oregon-tech-may-improve-breathing-in-space/
