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The advantage of methane is that it can be produced natively out of the martian atmosphere. Heat + Metal Catalyst + C02 + H2 = Methane + O2 Also hydrogen + O2
by valarauca1 12y ago
The advantage of methane is that it can be produced natively out of the martian atmosphere. Heat + Metal Catalyst + C02 + H2 = Methane + O2
Also hydrogen + O2 = water. So basically you ship the astronauts with nothing but hydrogen and live off the land. Or this is what the Mars Society was calling for.
- danielweber 12y agoYes, any launch from Mars is very likely to be methane. I was just trying to figure out how SpaceX could fund its development of methane rockets before that, through domestic use of methane rockets.
- seanflyon 12y ago89% (by mass) of hydrogen/oxygen fuel can also be produced from Martian atmosphere, since Oxygen has an atomic mass 16 times that of hydrogen. I think Methane has advantages other than a slightly larger portion producible from Martian air.