NASA recently launched the CO2 Conversion Challenge – a competition in which organizations convert CO2 into sugars. The conversion process is a crucial step towards creating vital resources on Mars and Hago Energetics took part in the challange with its Mars CO2 conversion project.
This technology would enable the future inhabitants of the red planet to create their own first-need products from resources that are all already abundant and naturally found in the environment. Hago Energetics was one of many participants in this challenge and was able to successfully meet its requirements.
And as was made known today, Hago Energetics Inc. has been declared one of the three winners of this challenge and has been granted the $1 million award. The award ceremony was streamed on NASA Channels.
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Part of the proceeds, as stated by the founder and CEO of the company, Wilson Hago, PhD, are set to go towards building prototypes of new carbon capture solutions.
Dr. Hago continued to acknowledge the severity of climate change’s implications to life on planet Earth and even went on to call it ‘the biggest problem facing mankind.’ On that note, he vowed that the California-based company would continue to pursue using its novel approach as a means of addressing this problem.
Hago Energetics – A serial winner?
And this isn’t the first competition Hago Energetics has entered to prove its competence in the field of carbon capture and renewable energy. In fact, the tech company is currently taking part in the $100M XPrize for Carbon Removal and is actively seeking partnerships, investments and sponsorships to support its mission.
The CO2 Conversion Challenge is part of a larger program featuring competitions that aim to boost technology solutions and catalyze revolutionary research that will help solve major issues. And NASA’s CO2 Conversion Challenge in particular seeks to encourage the development of non-biological CO2 conversion systems that will transform harmful greenhouse gas emissions into useful sugars, such as glucose.
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Sugar molecules are essential for the cultivation of microorganisms that are typically used in modern biomanufacturing systems. And while we can usually extract them from plants here on Earth, space missions cannot rely on that same source.
You can find out more about the CO2 Conversion Challenge here.
