New SpaceX Program Will Focus On Converting Atmospheric CO2 Into Rocket Fuel

Today, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk announced that SpaceX is starting a program that will take carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and convert it into rocket fuel. He also added that anyone interested should join and noted this would also be important for Mars.

Will also be important for Mars

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 13, 2021

Not much is known about this program, but knowing Elon Musk, he’s putting his engineering brain to work along with the SpaceX team and will hopefully find an innovative way to convert atmospheric carbon dioxide into rocket fuel. If this can be achieved, then it opens the doors for other greenhouse gases to be taken from the air and recycled for other fuel purposes.

Imagine going to the gas station and buying recycled gas, for example. Although EVs are the better alternative, this would help ease the burden on our planet if we could pull the greenhouse gases from the air and reuse them without adding more to the air.

Carbon capture is something important to Elon Musk — so important that his foundation funded the XPRIZE Carbon Removal competition with $100 million. The aim is to fight climate change and rebalance our planet’s carbon cycle. So far, only $5 million of that funding has been used.