SpaceCraft Oxygen Recovery (SCOR)

The SpaceCraft Oxygen Recovery (SCOR) project is developing advanced technologies capable of nearly 100% recovery of oxygen from metabolic carbon dioxide. The state-of-the-art Sabatier Carbon Dioxide Reduction (CRA) flight hardware can only process about half of the available carbon dioxide because hydrogen is limited in flight and about half the hydrogen is lost as the byproduct methane. SCOR is developing two uniquely different technologies in parallel. The Continuous Bosch Reactor reacts carbon dioxide with hydrogen, yielding water and solid carbon. No hydrogen is wasted. Water is the source of oxgyen for modern spacecraft utilizing regenerative life support systems, where oxygen is produced from water by electrolysis. The second technology under development, Hydrogen Recovery by Carbon Vapor Deposition, recovers hydrogen from methane waste byproducts via a pyrolysis reaction and returns it to the Sabatier to react with additional carbon dioxide, ultimately achieving up to 100% recovery of oxygen. SCOR also has a systems integration and analysis function that performs systems analysis, kinetic and thermal modeling, trade studies, and experiments investigating subsystem integration.