Isru - Blog Posts

Mars Dust into Thrust: NASA Co-Op #2 Week One

You would think pursuing a double major in electrical engineering and computer science would provide enough breadth to remain confident at a Co-Op... wrong. As I start my second Co-Op tour at NASA Johnson's Propulsion & Energy Conversion team I am finding that the more you learn the less you know. This summer I will be LabVIEW programming for In Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) a system that turns Mars dust into fuel. ISRU is a rover payload that takes in mars atmosphere and soil and turns it into liquid methane and oxygen (fuel options). Other capabilities is getting O2 to breathe and excavating drinkable water. One of my projects is to control with a National Instruments compact cRIO an oxygen liquefier and a new water concentration sensor. The sensor I am testing uses spectroscopy to eliminate sensor erosion from corrosive Mars materials. These tasks are very chemical engineering heavy which require understanding a system and how to control it safely. I am excited to tackle this learning curve, understand more about Mars mission energy systems, and become more comfortable with chemical engineering concepts. WAYS TO GET INVOLVED Watch what NASA is up to: https://youtu.be/p_snvjghMJg Learn how to program with LabVIEW: https://youtu.be/IOkoyuikj5Q?list=PLdNp0fxltzmPvvK_yjX-XyYgfVW8WK4tu Read about our journey to Mars: http://www.nasa.gov/topics/journeytomars/index.html ISRU in more depth: https://youtu.be/M3HbD1S_H5U