Sabatier System Design Study for a Mars ISRU Propellant Production Plant

As NASA looks towards human missions to Mars, an effort has started to advance the technology of a Mars ISRU Propellant Production Plant for a flight demonstration. This paper will present a design study of the Sabatier subsystem. The Sabatier subsystem receives CO2 and H2 and converts them to CH4 and H2O. The subsystem includes the Sabatier reactor, condenser, thermal management, and recycling system if required. This design study will look at how the choice of reactor thermal management and recycling system affect the performance of the overall Sabatier system. Different schemes from the literature involving single or cascading reactors will be investigated to see if any provide distinct advantages for a Mars propellant production plant.