Perspective of extraterrestrial carbon dioxide conversion and utilization technologies

The development of more efficient extraterrestrial CO2 conversion and utilization technologies is an urgent need for improving the oxygen recovery rate and energy conversion efficiency,and solving insufficient mass supplement of future long-term manned extraterrestrial survival. The current development of the recent extraterrestrial CO2 utilization and representative researches were reviewed. It is necessary to opt for the appropriate technology with full consideration of extraterrestrial environmental constraints in the space application for the large differences among different technologies. The Sabatier device and the MOXIE device have been tested for CO2 conversion and O-2 production on International Space Station and on Mars,respectively. What's more,extraterrestrial artificial photosynthesis,as the representative of ambient CO2 conversion and utilization technology,provides a new route for ECLSS,which can not only realize extraterrestrial O-2 supply,but also obtain a variety of fuels or biological raw material such as formic acid,ethylene and methane. With the development of basic researches,it is expected to realize highly efficient CO2 conversion and the production of high value-added organic matter like sugar. The development of extraterrestrial carbon dioxide conversion technology will solve the waste resource utilization and mass recycle in the confined environment of extraterrestrial space,and reduce the mass supply demand. It will also provide innovative ideas for ISRU on the Mars to support future affordable and sustainable extraterrestrial survival missions.