Methane to Aromatics on Mars

The Methane to Aromatics on Mars (METAMARS) project will design and build a machine for converting methane produced by the Sabatier reaction into a low hydrogen content, low vapor pressure, high density, aromatic fuel. Its primary advantage is a factor of four reduction of hydrogen feedstock importation requirements for production of rocket fuel compared to the standard S/E process for an equivalent mass of fuel. In addition, since all oxygen produced by the Sabatier system comes from the carbon dioxide feed, by reducing the hydrogen in the fuel the METAMARS process will simultaneously improve the stoichiometry of the fuel/oxidizer combination and will reduce the power required by the process. The benzene fuel is also considerably denser than methane fuel. A final advantage of the METAMARS process is that it operates at low pressure, in contrast to synthesis reactions for other higher hydrocarbons. These advantages make the METAMARS process a prime technology to improve the applicability of the Sabatier process for small scale unmanned Mars missions, such as the Mars Sample Return (MSR) mission, as well as a key technology for manned Mars missions.