Smart Energy, Oxygen and Water Production for Exploration

Long-term space missions will need smart solutions for managing waste and using local resources. One promising method is microwave-assisted pyrolysis and gasification (MAP-G), which breaks down solid waste into useful gases like hydrogen and carbon monoxide, and may also recover water and oxygen from lunar soil. This could support future missions to the Moon or Mars and has clear potential for sustainable waste treatment on Earth.

The project initially aimed to design and test a full MAP-G reactor prototype that could process around one to two kilograms of material per hour. It would handle both organic waste, like sludge or biomass, and lunar-like regolith, with a complete system to clean the output gases.

After a transition in project ownership and a technical review, the focus shifted to something more targeted: testing key feedstocks in a batch reactor to generate solid data on how different materials behave. This includes conversion efficiency, gas composition, and how well the materials heat up.

The tests cover organic mixtures based on ESA’s MELiSSA project (with and without fecal content), common packaging plastics like polyethylene and EVOH, and combinations of organic and plastic waste to reflect real-life streams. Some tests also include microwave-absorbing materials or bits of aluminium to see how they affect the process.

By combining the insights from the original and revised scopes, the project provides a strong foundation for future MAP-G systems with real potential in space and on Earth.