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Ammonia Synthesis on Mars Q & A
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Topic: Ammonia Synthesis on Mars Q & A (Read 2232 times)
rmza7
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Ammonia Synthesis on Mars Q & A
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on:
07/13/2017 01:38 pm »
Is NASA planning to synthesize ammonia using bacteria, or will it use the Nitrogen from Mars's atmosphere for the Haber process?
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Last Edit: 07/13/2017 01:44 pm by rmza7
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Lar
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Re: Ammonia Synthesis on Mars Q & A
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Reply #1 on:
07/14/2017 12:28 am »
Ammonia is one of the top 20 key chemicals if you're starting up large scale industrial chemical synthesis, but does it have a specific early on use that would cause NASA to want to synthesize it early?
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"I think it would be great to be born on Earth and to die on Mars. Just hopefully not at the point of impact." -Elon Musk
"We're a little bit like the dog who caught the bus" - Musk after CRS-8 S1 successfully landed on ASDS OCISLY
rmza7
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Re: Ammonia Synthesis on Mars Q & A
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Reply #2 on:
07/14/2017 01:02 am »
Wouldn't they need ammonia for plant growth on Mars, and also to use for nitrate synthesis?
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Lar
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Re: Ammonia Synthesis on Mars Q & A
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Reply #3 on:
07/14/2017 02:43 am »
And many other things. But I am not aware that it's an early focus of ISRU research by NASA.. That would be propellant.
You don't need a lot of NEW ammonia (or other nitrogen bearing chemicals) unless you're vastly increasing your biomass, I would think. Initial food production will use nitrogen from the waste stream.
It's a good question. ALL the key early feedstock chemicals have to be found, or synthesized, if you want a robust chemical infrastructure. Many important organics have some nitrogen in them ( for example, ABS, perhaps the most important plastic of all, since LEGO elements are made from it
).
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Last Edit: 07/14/2017 02:46 am by Lar
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"I think it would be great to be born on Earth and to die on Mars. Just hopefully not at the point of impact." -Elon Musk
"We're a little bit like the dog who caught the bus" - Musk after CRS-8 S1 successfully landed on ASDS OCISLY
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