Posted on 09/03/2018 7:35:51 AM PDT by BenLurkin
For a potential prize of $1 million, the government space agency is inviting the public to submit ideas about how to turn carbon dioxide, which is plentiful on the red planet, into glucose, which is more useful for human consumption. The goal is to allow astronauts to visit Mars with fewer materials and ultimately “to enable humans to live and thrive on the planet.”
...
NASA has also asked for help controlling a humanoid robot in a simulated mission to Mars and with building “sustainable housing for deep space.”
NASA isn’t the only organization trying to get people on Mars. Boeing and SpaceX are also working on plans to get humans to travel to and colonize Mars, and Elon Musk says SpaceX could begin a mission to Mars as early as 2022.
Entries for the CO2 Conversion Challenge are open through January 24, 2019.
(Excerpt) Read more at fortune.com ...
Set up a greenhouse and grow plants in it. Of course, the greenhouse will have to be heated, and maybe the light will have to be augmented to give the plants decent growing conditions.
Plants convert CO2 into glucose all the time...
It’s called ‘growing plants’.
Uh plant sugar beets. Plants take in CO2 and produce oxygen. All that is needed is soil, water (which it thought to exist on Mars) and sunlight.
Needs Hydrogen
6(CO2) + 6(H2O) -—> C6H12O6 + 9O2
Done. I don’t take checks.
Good morning.
“For a potential prize of $1 million, the government space agency is inviting the public to submit ideas about how to turn carbon dioxide, which is plentiful on the red planet, into glucose”
May I suggest taking plants with them?
Where my money?
5.56mm
Freepers are so smart!
Crap. I was late by a minute or two.
5.56mm
No doubt energy would be required. Energy produced from fusion or solar?
Photosynthesis.
The problem would be growing the plants in the near-vacuum at the Martian surface. Lichen might survive. Where’s my million?
Hogland’s solution. The work was done at NASA Ames years ago.
Didn’t Hollywood already do this with the movie “The Martian?”
Possible. But why not remove plants completely?
The common thread in all of this is energy. Energy will allow you to decouple from natural conversion processes which are inefficient.
Science and humans can always improve on natural processes... if we understand them. Improve means more efficient with limited resources.
Hoagland’s solution, developed in 1938, improved in 1950 used to great effect by NASA Ames in the 90’s.
Chemistry sets don’t self-reproduce.
Build a Tang production plant, I hear astronauts love that stuff. Where’s my prize money.
The goal is to allow astronauts to visit Mars with fewer materials and ultimately “to enable humans to live and thrive on the planet.”
This is the dumbest waste of time, energy, and money of all time; and will end in death and disappointment.
Better to fix the roads.
waste of time, energy, and will end in death and disappointment
Sounds like my life.
You need to mimic the process through chemistry.
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