In-Situ Resource Utilization: Useful Reactions

[rhoark]

I would love to also see people suggest some useful reactions of a Venus-like atmosphere (i.e. Eve)

For Duna it makes sense to hew closely to real Mars characteristics, but Eve invites more fanciful ideas. I'm thinking primarily ammonia and cyanogen, with traces of methane and iodine.

[sashan]

I also highly recommend everyone to read The Martian by Andy Weir. The great book about a guy stuck on the Mars during one of the first missions there. Scientifically accurate, mostly.

He provides a nice insight into ISRU. In practice, so to say.

[Zephram Kerman]

I also highly recommend everyone to read The Martian by Andy Weir. The great book about a guy stuck on the Mars during one of the first missions there. Scientifically accurate, mostly.

He provides a nice insight into ISRU. In practice, so to say.

Haven't read it, yet. But I keep hearing good things. For example, his internal dialogue is very human and down-to-earth. Never heard an astronaut cuss before.

[tater]

There are various ideas out there for processing ilmenite (FeTiO3) on the moon out there. At least one involves fluorine as I recall, others are reduction by heat, etc… no time to look them up at the moment, but I figured I'd throw them out there.

As a slight aside, It would be interesting if each IsRU unit had to be specific to a particular process. Then, perhaps it could be done in such a way that unlocking the various processes, or even knowing which one worked where, would require "science" to be collected in some fashion. Ie: you need munar soil samples to be able to build an ISRU that will work on munar soils. You need data from the atmosphere of Duna for atmospheric ISRU for Duna, etc. I'm generally a fan of science that is actually useful, vs "points" and this seems like a good fit. Don't want to derail the thread though.

[kerbiloid]

Just from today news.

They have modified "Caldicellulosiruptor bescii" bacteria with "Clostridium thermocellum" genes and can now directly convert multiple kinds of biomass into rocket munshine with 30% efficiency.

Of course, ethanol is not the best fuel, but if you have a whole atmosphere of CO2, why not?

http://www.pnas.org/content/111/24/8931

[KSK]

There are various ideas out there for processing ilmenite (FeTiO3) on the moon out there. At least one involves fluorine as I recall, others are reduction by heat, etc… no time to look them up at the moment, but I figured I'd throw them out there.

As a slight aside, It would be interesting if each IsRU unit had to be specific to a particular process. Then, perhaps it could be done in such a way that unlocking the various processes, or even knowing which one worked where, would require "science" to be collected in some fashion. Ie: you need munar soil samples to be able to build an ISRU that will work on munar soils. You need data from the atmosphere of Duna for atmospheric ISRU for Duna, etc. I'm generally a fan of science that is actually useful, vs "points" and this seems like a good fit. Don't want to derail the thread though.

Details of the fluorine processing here. I like your ideas for useful science vs points science too but yeah - probably not the thread for it.

[Coga19000]

Waaaaait a second, Northstar...

My father has a flower greenhouse, and therfore I know how hydroponics work. But Aeroponics? AEROPONICS??? WHY HAS NONE EVER THOUGH THIS FOR SPACE TRAVEL

Seriously, it sounds pretty efficient. Is it not mentioned because it requires too complex infrastructure maybe?

[Northstar1989]

On Monday, May 25, 2015 at 9:53 AM, Coga19000 said:

Waaaaait a second, Northstar...

My father has a flower greenhouse, and therfore I know how hydroponics work. But Aeroponics? AEROPONICS??? WHY HAS NONE EVER THOUGH THIS FOR SPACE TRAVEL

Seriously, it sounds pretty efficient. Is it not mentioned because it requires too complex infrastructure maybe?

It's what NASA uses on the International Space Station for their test-gardens of edible crops, *precisely* because of its high mass-efficiency.  Soil is heavy, and so is water- but you save a lot of mass by griwing crops in nothing but a nutrient-enriched mist...

 

On a completely unrelated note, @FreeThinker  this is the thread where I listed useful ISRU reactions (and important tweaks to existing reactions- like reducing power usage by the Sabatier Reaction in KSP-Interstellar Extended since it's actually a spontaneous reaction that releases heat, and only requires heating if the insulation is poor in order to maintain a high temperature and thus a faster reaction rate...) that should all be included in KSP-I Extended.

Although it appears most of them are now in KSP-I Extended, Methane Pyrolysis is still unimplemented (but marked as planned, I see) and the Fischer-Tropsch reaction isn't even marked as planned (the ability to manufacture Kerosene from Carbon Monoxide and Hydrogen would be awesome for players using Real Fuels with KSP-I, as KeroLOX can be used with a much wider variety of engines than MethLOX, and is much denser and more storable than MethLOX or HydroLOX...)  Both these reactions would be great to include...

 

Regards,

Northstar

Edited August 6, 2016 by Northstar1989

[FreeThinker]

9 hours ago, Northstar1989 said:

Although it appears most of them are now in KSP-I Extended, Methane Pyrolysis is still unimplemented (but marked as planned, I see) and the Fischer-Tropsch reaction isn't even marked as planned (the ability to manufacture Kerosene from Carbon Monoxide and Hydrogen would be awesome for players using Real Fuels with KSP-I, as KeroLOX can be used with a much wider variety of engines than MethLOX, and is much denser and more storable than MethLOX or HydroLOX...)  Both these reactions would be great to include...

Well, In order to implement it, I need you to specify not only the chemical reaction, I also need to the amount of power needed to process a metric Ton, it's expected efficiency and maximum power capacity for a 2.5m ISRU part.

Edited August 6, 2016 by FreeThinker