It may be useful as fuel for a mars vehicle or for rockets (electric vehicles will take you not very far and it's hard to strap the nuclear reactor to it). CO i

It may be useful as fuel for a mars vehicle or for rockets (electric vehicles will take you not very far and it's hard to strap the nuclear reactor to it). CO is easier to store than hydrogen. Of course, if you have a steady supply of ice you can make methane/methanol which is better for that purpose. But to extract ice you will need heavy mining machinery, earth-moving etc... CO + O2 fuel would make more sense on Venus, where water would be more scarce (water is present in thin clouds of sulphuric acid in about 25% concentration). The surface, however, is another business. More on Venus (a surprisingly appealing place to go): http://www.space.com/5653-cloud-cities-venus.html http://www.space.com/5653-cloud-cities-venus.html And a story by Geoffrey Landis http://www.asimovs.com/2010_09/exc_story1.shtml http://www.asimovs.com/2010_09/exc_story1.shtml