Bringing the promise of green hydrogen down to Earth
We’re developing critical hydrogen fueling infrastructure on the moon.
A leader in the development of electrochemical systems for government and commercial customers, SKYRE is working with Eta Space – an expert for in-space cryogenic fluid management technologies – to develop the first hydrogen fueling plant on the Moon. With imperatives of sustainability and efficiency, it will produce “green” (a near zero-emissions process), paving the way for the infrastructure needed here on Earth for emerging hydrogen economies.
“Sustainability is partially enabled by the ability to generate hydrogen fuel right on the moon’s surface with almost non-existent resources, as opposed to having it delivered from Earth.” Says SKYRE CEO, Dr. Trent Molter. “One resource available for use is ice in the permanently-shadowed craters of the Polar regions. Based on a proprietary electrochemical platform, SKYRE will electrolyze the ice water into its hydrogen and oxygen components and our H2RENEW™ will then compress and liquefy the hydrogen for use as fuel.”
Critical to this process is having a robust refrigeration system to liquefy the hydrogen, which in turn, requires a compressor to pressurize it for use as a fuel. “Typically, it’s very hard to compress a small molecule like hydrogen, making traditional mechanical compressors very inefficient and unreliable for the task and ultimately, not able to produce green hydrogen.” Says Eta Space CTO, Dr. William Notardonato. “The H2RENEW is a solid-state system that requires little or no dependency on logistics to operate efficiently and has no moving parts which results in greater reliability and increased cost-efficiencies. It hits on all marks, making it the ideal fit for the demands of lunar liquefaction.