According to reports, even if industrialized nations agree to and seriously comply with slashing carbon emissions drastically, warming won’t begin to slow until the mid-century.
Elon Musk declared that SpaceX will begin the Carbon Capture (CC) program to create propellants for his rockets
The announcement was made via Musk’s official Twitter account
It is a well-known fact that the Earth is suffering from climate change. Carbon Dioxide (CO2) emissions have been rising rapidly ever since the industrial revolution in the early 20th century and global temperatures have been on the rise triggering a positive feedback cycle and threatening to make it worse. According to reports, even if industrialized nations agree to and seriously comply with slashing carbon emissions drastically, warming won’t begin to slow until the mid-century. The emission reduction has to be paired with carbon capture (CC) in order to stand a chance at avoiding the worst-case eventualities.
Elon Musk, the chairman and the chief executive officer of Space Exploration Technologies Corp, more popularly known as SpaceX, announced the Carbon Capture project on December 13 after being named the Person of the Year by Time magazine.
While Elon Musk, believes that improving access to space is critical to our long-term survival, he also stated that the allure of outer space technologies and achievements steals focus from Earth’s problems and that rockets produce excessive carbon emissions. Therefore, he declared that SpaceX will begin the Carbon Capture (CC) program to create propellants for his rockets. According to a New York Times report, SpaceX currently uses liquid oxygen with kerosene to power their Falcon rockets and have been launching satellites into orbit, delivering supplies and astronauts for NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) and other customers.
What is Carbon Capture and how it will work?
To start get started carbon dioxide (CO2) needs to be removed from the atmosphere through air scrubbers, absorption, chemical catalysts or other methods. It is then combined with water, creating hydrocarbons which essentially forms the basis of fuels we already use like petroleum and natural gas. The process creates biofuel and this biofuel produces fewer emissions than the fossil fuels we use today. This basically results in negative emissions which not only reduces the level of CO2 in our atmosphere but also helps speed up the transition to alternative fuels.
Elon Musk Tweet
SpaceX is starting a program to take CO2 out of atmosphere & turn it into rocket fuel. Please join if interested.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 13, 2021
The announcement was made via Musk’s official Twitter account as he is notorious for, where he tweeted about SpaceX starting a program to take CO2 out of the atmosphere & turn it into rocket fuel. He also announced that this will be important for the Mars space missions alluding to the carbon capture program’s intent to manufacture propellants on Mars as the red planet’s atmosphere is predominantly composed of carbon dioxide.
The idea is to refuel the spacecraft beyond the confines of Earth making it a crucial part of Elon Musk’s long-term vision for humans to become an interplanetary species. This also opens up the possibility of fuel depots on Mars itself, making return trips a distinct and achievable possibility. Combine that with the reusable launch vehicles SpaceX have been working on and you can see how Elon’s long-term plans for colonising Mars are fitting into place.
The need to colonise Mars and beyond
When it involves colonising space, the argument has always been that becoming an interplanetary species will guarantee humanity’s survival. In addition to Musk, the argument has been made by such luminaries as Stephen Hawking, J. Richard Gott and others. But, that needs to be done in a more sustainable way and alternative fuels might be the way to go.
Other Carbon Capture Methods
World political leaders are attempting to neutralize carbon emissions by carbon capture methods like planting more trees which have been the traditional and go-to method for years now. The problem with that is that it isn’t as efficient or as quick as we need it to be. However, new technologies are being developed to remove carbon at a major scale and function as carbon capture systems.
The Orca Plant, Iceland for example, uses direct air capture technology and is expected to remove 4,000 tonnes of carbon from the air each year. Filters in massive fans at the plant capture carbon from the atmosphere and store it below ground in basalt rock where it can be mineralized. Scientists are also studying the use of microbes which turns carbon dioxide into fuel. They have engineered a kind of bacterium that takes the carbon dioxide from the air and turns it into fuel in just one enzymatic step. The bacterium Rhodopseudomonas Palustris uses sunlight to produce methane and hydrogen inside the bacterium itself. The research seems to show a lot of promise if it is scalable.
There is also the Canadian company Carbon Engineering, that’s making liquid fuel with carbon dioxide directly removed from the atmosphere and turns it into pipeline-ready compressed CO2 gas with just the use of energy and water. It can then be combined with non-fossil fuel-generated hydrogen to produce hydrocarbon fuels. The New York startup, Air Company, has the business of converting Earth’s CO2 into usable products such as perfumes and impurity-free alcohol. Along with that, NASA has also developed a method of turning CO2 into fuel using metal oxide thin film devices that convert gas into fuel. The device can be used in industrial processes, converting carbon dioxide into fuel such as methane.
Carbon capture is something important to Musk. His foundation funded the XPRIZE Carbon Removal competition with $100 million, which aimed to fight climate change and rebalance our planet’s carbon cycle. So far, only $5 million of that funding has been used. Musk along with his SpaceX team are hopeful about finding an innovative way to convert atmospheric carbon dioxide into rocket fuel. If this goal is achieved it will open the doors for other greenhouse gases taken from the air and recycled for other purposes.
There’s additionally the prospect of leveraging the abundant resources of space to meet the needs of Earth while at the same time reducing the environmental impact we have had on the world. In this regard, big corporations and businesses (which happen to be majorly responsible for the dire situation we are in) need to pull their socks up by adopting and scaling up these innovative carbon capture methods to offset the damage that is done already.
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Harshita Arya
A student journalist who is into facts. She is always keen to learn more about places of origin and the future. View Full Profile
