Space

Our quest into space is dependent largely upon our creativity and ingenuity to design and build systems that are small, lightweight, and highly functional. Space launches have limited space, and just the lift-off costs thousands of dollars per pound.

We are developing miniature chemical processing plants that will convert the resources in space, like soil and atmosphere on Mars, into the things we need. For instance, if fuel can be manufactured on Mars, then it will not be necessary to carry so much fuel when explorers go there. Microtechnology has attractive applications for supporting space exploration and orbit-based research. An excellent example is the NASA Mars exploration missions, which will culminate in manned landings in 2011. We hope our microtechnology can produce fuel and oxygen from Martian atmospheric gases for NASA astronauts during their stay on Mars and the return trip home.

Space (pdf 178KB)