SALVARE
Self-Acquisition of Liquid propellant: a Versatile Arsenal of Resources Endeavour
SALVARE is a space engineering concept developed by a team of 29 international students from Politecnico di Milano and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. The project reached the finals of NASA's 2022 RASC-AL Competition, selected among roughly 150 competing teams.
Instead of carrying the fuel needed for the return trip, a Mars mission can produce it on site. SALVARE applies In-Situ Resource Utilisation (ISRU): it captures CO₂ from the Martian atmosphere and water extracted from subsurface ice, and converts them into methane and oxygen, around 50 metric tons of propellant every year.
Virtual Reality Prototype
Pasquale Castellano and Giuseppe Edoardo Addario built an interactive virtual reality prototype of the mission, letting the jury walk through the Martian surface operations. It was awarded Best Prototype Demonstration at the 2022 finals.
