SwRI, UT San Antonio will test technology designed to support extended space missions to Moon, Mars

(Press-News.org) SAN ANTONIO —September 17, 2025 — Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) and The University of Texas at San Antonio (UT San Antonio) will flight test novel electrolyzer technology to better understand chemical processes associated with bubble formation in low gravity. Designed to solve future space mission challenges, the project, led by SwRI’s Kevin Supak and UT San Antonio’s Dr. Shrihari Sankarasubramanian, is supported by a $125,000 grant from the Connecting through Research Partnerships (Connect) program, which fosters collaboration between the two institutions. It is also supported by the university’s Klesse College of Engineering and Integrated Design (KCEID) and the Center for Space Technology and Operation Research (CSTOR).

“Extended space missions will require in situ resource utilization to produce chemicals and consumables. These processes will yield gas and liquid interactions within the technology,” Supak said. “A partial gravity environment, like that of the Moon or Mars, has a reduced buoyancy effect on gas bubbles, which can pose challenges to surfaces that must remain wetted with liquid to function.”

SwRI and UT San Antonio will evaluate the performance of a patent-pending electrolyzer, the Mars Atmospheric Reactor for Synthesis of Consumables (MARS-C), in simulated partial gravity environments. Developed with NASA support by Sankarasubramanian, MARS-C is meant to improve production of propellants and life-support compounds on the Moon, Mars or near-Earth asteroids.

MARS-C is designed to use local resources on the Moon or Mars to produce fuel, oxygen and other life support compounds necessary for long-term human habitation. It applies voltage across two electrodes to electrochemically convert simulated Martian brine and carbon dioxide into methane, oxygen and other hydrocarbons.

The researchers will integrate MARS-C into an existing SwRI-built flight rig and test it aboard a series of parabolic flights, which fly in a series of arcs to create periods of freefall, simulating weightlessness. This approach builds on previous work conducted by SwRI that studied boiling processes under partial gravity aboard parabolic flights. SwRI’s research showed that lower gravity affects surface bubble dynamics, which can, in turn, affect gas production rates.

Earlier this year, Supak and Sankarasubramanian received the NASA’s TechLeap prize in support of flight testing MARS-C. The Connect grant allows them to significantly expand the scope of their project.

“With Connect’s support, we can study additional variables, including the effects of temperature conditions similar to Mars and the Moon,” Supak said. “We’ll also examine how the electrodes’ surface textures, material properties and spacing within the cell affect bubble nucleation.”

The grant will also support more comprehensive testing and advanced instrumentation, including high-speed video recording to capture how gas bubbles form inside the cells during parabolic flight. The flights are currently scheduled for 2026.

“Ultimately, this project helps address a major civil space shortfall that NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate has identified,” said Sankarasubramanian. “Technology demonstration under relevant gravity conditions is much harder to do compared to simulating temperature, pressure or gas compositions of other planets – we are doing that and significantly advancing this system up NASA’s Technology Readiness Level (TRL) chain.”

SwRI’s Executive Office and the UT San Antonio Office of Research sponsor the Connect program, which offers grant opportunities to enhance greater scientific collaboration between the two institutions. This project’s funding is supported by UT San Antonio’s Klesse College of Engineering and Integrated Design (KCEID) and the Center for Space Technology and Operation Research (CSTOR).

For more information, visit https://www.swri.org/markets/energy-environment/oil-gas/fluids-engineering/fluid-physics-space-applications.

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