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        <title>NASA's Innovative Approach: Creating Rocket Fuel from Martian Soil – Big Think</title><br />
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                                <span class="absolute uppercase font-emphasis-eyebrow ">Surprising Science — <time class="entry-date published" datetime="2018-11-01T19:45:56-04:00">November 1, 2018</time></span><br />
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                                    NASA scientists are developing robots that can generate methane from Martian resources to tackle fuel challenges.<br />
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                        <span class="bg-black-90 absolute left-0 top-[2px] md:top-[6px] h-[20px] w-[20px] rounded-full"/><br/>NASA is addressing the significant challenge of transporting fuel to Mars by proposing to extract fuel from water within Martian soil.<br />
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                        <span class="bg-black-90 absolute left-0 top-[2px] md:top-[6px] h-[20px] w-[20px] rounded-full"/><br/>The extraction process involves obtaining hydrogen from Martian water and combining it with atmospheric carbon to create methane.<br />
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                        <span class="bg-black-90 absolute left-0 top-[2px] md:top-[6px] h-[20px] w-[20px] rounded-full"/><br/>This groundbreaking approach could effectively resolve the fuel weight dilemma for upcoming Mars missions.<br />
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        <p>NASA is exploring a fascinating solution that could enhance the success rate of missions to Mars. The challenge lies in the fact that bringing enough fuel for a return journey is not only inefficient but also takes up valuable cargo space. To tackle this issue, NASA is turning to resources already available on the Martian surface.</p><br />
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        <p>One promising strategy involves extracting water from the Martian soil, also known as "regolith," and breaking it down into its fundamental components: hydrogen and oxygen. Once this process is complete, the next step is to combine the hydrogen with carbon sourced from the Martian atmosphere to produce methane!</p><br />
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        <h3>Harnessing Martian Resources</h3><br />
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        <p>The robot designed for this task, named RASSOR (Regolith Advanced Surface Systems Operations Robot), is currently undergoing testing. This innovative technology illustrates how Martian surface materials can be converted not only into rocket fuel but also into energy sources for potential future colonies.</p><br />
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