From mars at mackintoshweb.com  Mon Jan  8 20:40:55 2007
From: mars at mackintoshweb.com (Mars related topics)
Date: Mon, 8 Jan 2007 17:40:55 -0800 (PST)
Subject: [Mars] production plant
In-Reply-To: <45817B5C.4050406@mackintoshweb.com>
Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.4.43.0701081740550.19098@hur11.myuw.net>

Hi

Sorry I have been quiet for so long, moving, work, etc.  I did email Zubrin and he replied

>We've done plenty of more work on propellant-making ISRU systems, but I'm
>not sure it is something you would want to at MDRS. The feedstock is
>atmospheric CO2, which is not indigenous to Utah.

>If you want to do mars ISRU in Utah or Devon, a better choice might be
>technologies to extract water from frozen ground.

>Robert

I agree with the comments from our earlier emails that taking CO2 from the atmosphere is a more tractable starting point and more relevant to early trips to Mars.  What are your thoughts.  If everyone still agrees with this, I will email him back and see if he will share his latest work.

I will attempt to build the Sabatier reactor.  I am a combustion engineer and have a little experience with catalysts.  I will go back through his book and search the literature.

I forget, does one of you live in FL?  I live in Titusville, are far away are you?

Scott



On Thu, 14 Dec 2006, Mars related topics wrote:

> Hi all
>
> OK, moving forward!
>
> After reading the relevant pages of The Case For Mars over again, it
> seems simple enough.  In simplest terms it is a Sabatier reactor and a
> water separator to reclaim the hydrogen from the 'wast' water of the
> reactor and run the hydrogen back through the reactor again.
>
> He (Zubrin) states that they got one of the key components from a
> laboratory hydrogen generator.  So I thought, ya, build from off the
> shelf components as much as possible, makes things simpler.
>
> So, I went looking on ebay and found one (and only one) such unit:
> http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=180059430536
> Which I purchased for $1800 w/shipping.  The fellow said he would ship
> it out by Fed Ex ground either today or tomorrow, so I should have it by
> new years.
>
> Now for the other main component, the Sabatier reactor... as yet I have
> not found a ready made one.  However, from the description it sounds
> simple to make, the only catch seems to be the catalyst...
> Dr. Zubrin states in his book that they used ruthenium as it works best,
> but that is very expensive, I checked, very very expensive.  He also
> states though that one can use nickel, though it does not work as well,
> it does work, and nickel I can afford.  So unless someone has some
> ruthenium they can lay their hands on, then we will go with nickel.
>
> The rest of the system is simple plumbing and valves mostly, he does
> also mention a computer to control the whole process, but I'm a computer
> geek so that should not be too challenging.
>
> So, does one of you want to build the reactor?  It sounds like a small
> section of pipe with some nickel wool in it.
>
> Make it a great day
>
> --
> Terry Mackintosh <terry at mackintoshweb.com>
> http://www.mackintoshweb.com/mars/ Mars Society, FL chapter.
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