Elon Musk Proposes A Program To Remove CO2 From The Earth To Be Used As Rocket Fuel, How Come?

SpaceX rockets can use CO2 absorbed on Earth and Mras. (photo: twitter)

JAKARTA - The CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, Elon Musk, is often accused of ignoring problems on Earth in favor of running his personal space program. The allegations are not entirely true and fair. After all, Elon Musk also runs an electric car company that is known for being environmentally friendly.

Now, the space entrepreneur is again announcing on Twitter a new initiative that perhaps flying into space could also benefit Earth.

“SpaceX started a program to remove CO2 from the atmosphere & turn it into rocket fuel. Please join if interested,” he tweeted.

Human-caused climate change, created by the emission of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, is an obsession for many in government and in the media.

Musk's proposal has interesting implications for this issue of climate change and accusations that he wants to leave Earth to live on Mars. This project will not only help mitigate climate change on Earth, it will also play a part in Musk's desire to build a settlement on Mars.

Making rocket fuel with CO2 is the easy part of the proposal. The century-old process, discovered by Nobel Prize-winning chemist Paul Sabatier, combines CO2 with hydrogen and a catalyst to create methane and water.

SpaceX is starting a program to take CO2 out of atmosphere & turn it into rocket fuel. Please join if interested.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 13, 2021

The Musk rocket developed by SpaceX in Boca Chica, Texas uses an engine that burns liquid methane and liquid oxygen. NASA uses the Sabatier system on the International Space Station (ISS) to make water for the crew. Methane is ejected from the ISS.

The first part of Musk's plan, sucking CO2 from the atmosphere, is likely to be more challenging. The idea that capturing carbon from the air will reduce Earth's greenhouse gases and thereby reduce climate change is a controversial one.

One such project, reported by Techcrunch, is being carried out by a company called Climeworks in Iceland. So far, the company has spent between $600 and $800 to remove a tonne of carbon dioxide, which is considered very expensive.

Climeworks wants to reduce costs to between 100 and 200 US dollars per metric ton to make the project more economically viable.

Another form of carbon capture involves sequestering CO2 directly from power plants. Indeed, NET Power has a pilot plant a few hours' drive from Boca Chica in La Porte, Texas. It burns natural gas but conserves and saves CO2 emissions.

Can Musk buy the CO2 he needs from the NET plant or a similar source? Maybe, but as an environmentalist, Musk may be reluctant to ship gas to Boca Chica in a diesel tanker. Is Tesla interested in developing an electric tanker truck?

After all, Musk is interested in developing airborne carbon capture and Sabatier technology for his planned Mars settlement. The idea is to capture CO2 from the Martian atmosphere, hydrogen from water ice, and then turn it into rocket fuel for spacecraft returning to Earth from the Red Planet.

Elon Musk has also funded the US$100 million X-Prize to encourage the development of carbon capture technology, noting that “to win the grand prize, the team must demonstrate a solution that works at a scale of at least 1000 tonnes removed per year; modeling their costs on a scale of 1 million tonnes per year; and pointing the way to reach the gigatons-a-year scale in the future.”

If and when an immediate aerial capture solution is reached, a win-win outcome will be achieved. Human civilization will have one or more technologies that will help solve the climate crisis. While Musk will have a source of CO2 to make his own rocket fuel and continue to pursue his grand designs for building a settlement on Mars, not to mention getting humans back to the moon and a host of other goals.

A rocket whose engine burns liquid methane and liquid oxygen will produce water and CO2 in its exhaust. But a world that has technology that can capture carbon from the atmosphere will likely be more than capable of handling the situation.

Senator Bernie Sanders denounced carbon capture as the “wrong solution.” But the delicious irony is that while Green New Dealers are crafting schemes to deal with climate change that involve destroying the fossil fuel industry, billionaire capitalists like Musk are developing solutions that don't involve heartbreaking economic catastrophe.

Musk and people like him are more likely to succeed when politicians and activists have failed with their proposals. Musk promises to save Earth and go to Mars.