Chemistry’s role in human space travel

Abstract

Despite the success of remote-controlled robotic spacecraft, humans are continuing their quest to explore space up close and in person. For example, the U.S. government is prepared to devote funding to NASA’s Journey to Mars program, which aims to send humans to Mars in the 2030s.But the care and feeding of people on long space flights, or on planets such as Mars, will require enormous engineering and scientific ingenuity and advances. Many of these developments will hinge on chemistry, according to a group of scientists who are hoping to bring the central science to the forefront of human space flight efforts.Ferenc Darvas, founder and director of the Budapest-based flow chemistry developer ThalesNano; Roland Hirsch, program manager at the U.S. Department of Energy; and former American Chemical Society president Attila Pavlath organized a symposium titled “Space Chemistry: How It Helps Space Exploration” at last month’s ACS national meeting in San Francisco.