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EndlessAir

 Recycling air within a spacecraft
  (+4, -3)
(+4, -3) 		  [vote for,
against]

My idea is to extract CO2 from within the spacecraft and pump it to a tank behind the craft, in the ships shadow. Here it would cool to near absolute zero and become a liquid. Then, you run an electrical current and through electrolysis seperate the Carbon from the Oxygen. The crew can then breathe the oxygen and the Carbon could be built into simple sugars they can eat.
—Centurian, May 01 2010

Space Habitat Carbon Dioxide Electrolysis to Oxygen http://rtreport.ksc...%20Systems/609.html
[mouseposture, May 01 2010]

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       [+]... might wanna work on the electrolysis mechanics though.
—FlyingToaster, May 01 2010
   

       [FT] <link>
[21Q] Would storing the CO_2 as a solid affect the feasibility of the idea?
—mouseposture, May 01 2010
   

       [21Q] I'm not sure it would even work with *liquid* CO_2.
Electrolysis of CO_2 requires temperatures above 500 degrees C (apparently: I didn't know any of this 'till today). Which is why I asked about *storage*
I assumed you were making a triple point point, which I considered peripheral to the basic idea. I take that to be:
1) Exploit sunlight to make O_2 from CO_2
2) Exploit shadow to store CO_2 compactly
The CO_2 will have to be warmed and run through a reactor, certainly; electrolysing it in situ in the storage tank seems like a non-starter.		   

       [Centurian] In my idiolect, this idea is "flawed, but fundamentally sound." In [21_Quest]'s, probably something else. Either way, more research would have improved it.
—mouseposture, May 01 2010
   

       // Exploit sunlight to make O_2 from CO_2 //   

       This is known as "photosynthesis" in some contexts, although water is also involved.   

       // more research would have improved it. //   

       Although exactly how is not imediately obvious.
—8th of 7, May 01 2010
   

       //water is also involved// Electrolysis unlike photosynthesis would require no water -- only electrons. Which I assume are photovoltaic, since the idea requires shade in any case.   

       //exactly how// Well, I agree the idea's no more than slightly improved by an understanding of sublimation, but don't you think it would be better if it took account of prior art?
—mouseposture, May 01 2010
   


 

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