{"id":60654,"date":"2021-08-24T17:03:00","date_gmt":"2021-08-24T21:03:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/?migration=converted-node-473466"},"modified":"2024-05-16T15:16:56","modified_gmt":"2024-05-16T19:16:56","slug":"nasa-awards-750000-in-competition-to-convert-carbon-dioxide-into-sugar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/centers-and-facilities\/marshall\/nasa-awards-750000-in-competition-to-convert-carbon-dioxide-into-sugar\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA Awards $750,000 in Competition to Convert Carbon Dioxide into Sugar"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>On Earth, plants and ocean microbes use sunlight to turn carbon dioxide, or CO2, into sugars for energy. Humans don\u2019t have that ability, at least not yet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On Mars, there aren\u2019t plants and oceans, but there is an abundance of CO2. NASA\u2019s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.co2conversionchallenge.org\/\" rel=\"noopener\">CO2 Conversion Challenge<\/a> invited the public to come up with ways to convert this principle component of the Martian atmosphere into sugar, which astronauts could use to make useful products \u2013 anything from plastics, adhesives, and fuels to food and medicine.<\/p>\n\n\n<div id=\"\" class=\"hds-media hds-module wp-block-image\"><div class=\"margin-left-auto margin-right-auto nasa-block-align-inline\"><div class=\"hds-media-wrapper margin-left-auto margin-right-auto\"><figure class=\"hds-media-inner hds-cover-wrapper hds-media-ratio-none \"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/img_0940.jpg\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1512\" height=\"2016\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/img_0940.jpg?w=1512\" class=\"attachment-2048x2048 size-2048x2048\" alt=\"Team Air Company prepares materials for judging.\" style=\"transform: scale(1); transform-origin: 50% 50%; object-position: 50% 50%; object-fit: cover;\" block_context=\"nasa-block\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/img_0940.jpg 1512w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/img_0940.jpg?resize=225,300 225w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/img_0940.jpg?resize=768,1024 768w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/img_0940.jpg?resize=1152,1536 1152w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/img_0940.jpg?resize=300,400 300w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/img_0940.jpg?resize=450,600 450w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/img_0940.jpg?resize=675,900 675w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/img_0940.jpg?resize=900,1200 900w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/img_0940.jpg?resize=1500,2000 1500w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1512px) 100vw, 1512px\" loading=\"eager\" \/><\/a><\/figure><figcaption class=\"hds-caption padding-y-2\"><div class=\"hds-caption-text p-sm margin-0\">Team Air Company prepares materials for judging.<\/div><div class=\"hds-credits\">Credits: NASA\/Amanda Adams<\/div><\/figcaption><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<p>Now, three teams of solvers have demonstrated prototype systems capable of converting CO2 from the air into glucose and other useful sugars. Teams Air Company of Brooklyn, New York; Hago Energetics Inc. of Thousand Oaks, California; and SSwEET from the University of California, Berkeley will take home equal shares of the $650,000 base prize.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe CO2 Conversion Challenge began in 2018 to incentivize the public to recreate an invisible process plants do regularly with a non-biological system,\u201d said Monsi Roman, manager of Centennial Challenges. \u201cDespite many obstacles, three teams developed beneficial technologies that could enable humans to create valuable products from the Martian environment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>All three teams also won bonus prizes for designing systems with spaceflight in mind. The judging panel evaluated each submission for bonus points based on efficiency, scalability, and reliability. Air Company will receive $50,000, while Hago Energetics and team SSwEET will receive $25,000 each.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Air Company\u2019s three-step process begins by combining CO2 and hydrogen to make methanol. Removing hydrogen then turns the methanol into formaldehyde, a colorless and strong-smelling chemical used to make building materials and cleaning agents. The third chemical reaction produces a simple sugar called D-glucose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hago Energetics\u2019 system used a similar thermochemical process to produce D-glucose and other sugars. Its four-step process first uses electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. The CO2 and hydrogen combine to create methanol, and then hydrogen is removed to produce formaldehyde. The final chemical reaction creates D-glucose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Team SSwEET \u2013 short for Space-Sugar with Electrochemical Energy Technology \u2013 demonstrated that glycolaldehyde, a compound that CO2 can produce when broken down by electrical energy, can \u201cautocatalyze\u201d sugars like glucose. That means the chemical reaction producing the sugars also makes a product that can initiate the same reaction again, creating a cycle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These types of systems could allow future explorers to use readily available resources at a destination\u2019s environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/directorates\/spacetech\/centennial_challenges\/index.html\">Centennial Challenges<\/a>, part of the Prizes, Challenges, and Crowdsourcing program in NASA\u2019s Space Technology Mission Directorate, bridges the innovation gap between NASA and the nation by stimulating research and technology solutions inside and outside the traditional aerospace community. The competitions offer incentive prizes to generate revolutionary solutions to problems of interest to NASA and the nation. Centennial Challenges is based at NASA\u2019s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Learn about opportunities to get involved and provide solutions to NASA:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/solve\">https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/solve<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Molly Porter<\/strong><br>Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.<br>256-424-5158<br><a href=\"mailto:molly.a.porter@nasa.gov\">molly.a.porter@nasa.gov<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Tiffany Blake<\/strong><br>Ames Research Center, Silicon Valley, Calif.<br>650-604-4789<br><a href=\"mailto:tiffany.n.blake@nasa.gov\">tiffany.n.blake@nasa.gov<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On Earth, plants and ocean microbes use sunlight to turn carbon dioxide, or CO2, into sugars for energy. Humans don\u2019t have that ability, at least not yet. On Mars, there aren\u2019t plants and oceans, but there is an abundance of CO2. NASA\u2019s CO2 Conversion Challenge invited the public to come up with ways to convert […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":62363,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nasa_hds_core_meta_l10n":"en-US","nasa_hds_core_meta_article_editor":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_article_contacts":[],"nasa_hds_core_meta_article_topic":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_linked_locations":[],"nasa_hds_core_meta_article_related_articles":[],"hds_migrate_meta_pr_release_id":"","hds_migrate_meta_pr_release_type":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_location_x":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_location_y":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_gallery_images":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[2864,2854,11536,3343,2879,3337,2661],"news-tags":[],"internal-terms":[9529],"coauthors":[8391],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"NASA Awards $750,000 in Competition to Convert Carbon Dioxide into Sugar","url":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/centers-and-facilities\/marshall\/nasa-awards-750000-in-competition-to-convert-carbon-dioxide-into-sugar\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/centers-and-facilities\/marshall\/nasa-awards-750000-in-competition-to-convert-carbon-dioxide-into-sugar\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/img_0940.jpg?w=150&h=150&crop=1","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/img_0940.jpg"},"articleSection":"NASA Centers & Facilities","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lee Mohon"}],"creator":["Lee Mohon"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"NASA","logo":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/themes\/nasa\/assets\/images\/nasa-logo.svg"},"keywords":["Technology","Marshall Space Flight Center","Ames Research Center","Centennial Challenges","Prizes, Challenges, and Crowdsourcing Program","Space Technology Mission Directorate","Space Technology Research Grants"],"dateCreated":"2021-08-24T21:03:00Z","datePublished":"2021-08-24T21:03:00Z","dateModified":"2024-05-16T19:16:56Z"},"rendered":"<meta name=\"parsely-title\" content=\"NASA Awards $750,000 in Competition to Convert Carbon Dioxide into Sugar\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-link\" content=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/centers-and-facilities\/marshall\/nasa-awards-750000-in-competition-to-convert-carbon-dioxide-into-sugar\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-type\" content=\"post\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-image-url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/img_0940.jpg?w=150&h=150&crop=1\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-pub-date\" content=\"2021-08-24T21:03:00Z\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-section\" content=\"NASA Centers & Facilities\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-tags\" content=\"Technology,Marshall Space Flight Center,Ames Research Center,Centennial Challenges,Prizes, Challenges, and Crowdsourcing Program,Space Technology Mission Directorate,Space Technology Research Grants\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-author\" content=\"Lee Mohon\" \/>","tracker_url":"https:\/\/cdn.parsely.com\/keys\/nasa.gov\/p.js"},"read_time":3,"time_ago":"3 years","featured_image":{"id":62363,"file":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/img_0940.jpg","title":"img_0940 Co2","alt":"Team Air Company prepares materials for judging.","caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60654"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/35"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60654"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60654\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":550465,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60654\/revisions\/550465"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62363"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60654"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60654"},{"taxonomy":"news-tags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-tags?post=60654"},{"taxonomy":"internal-terms","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/internal-terms?post=60654"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=60654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}