India granted the patent for the exploitation of resources available on the Mars planet to the Sardinian AeroSpace District – DASS

After China, Europe, Japan, Russia and the United States of America, India too, on the basis of the interview held last January 1st at the patent office in charge, has approved the granting of the patent owned by DASS which is related to the process to sustain human missions using the resources available on the red planet, such as soil and its components as well as carbon dioxide which almost completely constitutes the Martian atmosphere, to obtain oxygen, fertilizers, propellants and edible biomass.

The patented technology of high complexity, for which the innovative character necessary for the patent to be granted has been recognized, is constituted by several highly interlinked stages which can be divided, to simplify their description, into two sections: one is characterized by processes of chemical-physical type from which, for example, fertilizers can be obtained and the other one that deals with unit operations of biological nature from which edible biomass is produced also with the use of microalgae.

“DASS is proud of the obtained result – said the CEO Giacomo Cao – because it allows to increase the value of its patent assets in a strategic sector such as the development of new technologies for space exploration that incorporate NASA’s paradigm, i.e. they are based on in situ resources utilization so that a reduction of costs and increased mission times may be achieved.”

It is clear that DASS makes an active contribution to a continuously investigated topic, according to which the Renaissance, started in 1500, can only be completed through the expansion of mankind in space towards the boundless horizon of the solar system. In this regard one of the fathers of space exploration, Konstantin Ėduardovič Tsiolkovsky, used to say about a hundred ago that “the Earth is the cradle of human beings, but we cannot live in a cradle forever”.

“In this period of very serious difficulties caused by the current pandemic, aware of the fact that our purpose is not to anticipate the future but instead to make it possible – said Cao – it is important to highlight that DASS contributes with its patents to the technological need emphasized several times also by the well-known USA entrepreneur, Elon Musk, i.e. to develop the access to space at sustainable costs for mankind, while keeping in mind the danger that human civilization may risk its implosion if it does not expand beyond the Earth.

The project Small Mission to MarS, that has been recently presented to the press and involves several DASS shareholders, among which Avio, the Italian Aerospace Research Centre, the University of Cagliari as well as other public and private bodies from four Italian regions, including Sardinia which clearly considers the aerospace sector to be of strategic importance for its development and employment level, goes exactly in this direction”.