A team of Chinese researchers says it has built and test fired a rocket engine that burns carbon dioxide, the same gas that puts the fizz in soda like Coca Cola. The engine, developed at the State Key Laboratory of High Temperature Gas Dynamics in Beijing, uses solid magnesium powder as the primary fuel and CO2 as the oxidizer. In lab tests, the engine produced a steady, controllable thrust, raising the possibility that future rockets could run on a gas that is abundant in the atmosphere of Mars.
A rocket that breathes the air of Mars
The engine works by igniting magnesium powder in a stream of carbon dioxide gas. The chemical reaction produces magnesium oxide and carbon monoxide, along with intense heat and thrust. The researchers say the engine can be throttled and restarted, two features that are essential for practical spacecraft. Because the atmosphere of Mars is about 95 percent carbon dioxide, a rocket using this technology could theoretically refuel on the Red Planet by collecting CO2 from the air. That would eliminate the need to carry all of the return propellant from Earth.
Why this matters in the desert of Gansu
The tests took place in northwestern China, in Gansu province, at a facility run by the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The local team was led by researcher Wang Xing. For people in the region, the project is part of a broader national push to develop technologies that could support future crewed missions to Mars. China has already landed a rover on the Martian surface and has announced plans for a sample return mission. A rocket that can use local resources fits directly into those ambitions.
A fuel that fights two problems at once
Carbon dioxide is a waste gas on Earth, a major contributor to climate change. Using it as rocket fuel does not directly remove CO2 from the atmosphere, but it does offer a way to turn a problematic substance into something useful. The researchers note that magnesium is abundant and can be produced using renewable energy. If the process were scaled up, it could create a closed loop: capture CO2, use solar power to make magnesium, and then burn the magnesium with more CO2 to fly a rocket. The team published its results in the journal Fuel.
What comes next
The engine remains a laboratory prototype. The researchers have not yet tested it in a vacuum chamber or at the extreme temperatures of spaceflight. But the principle has been demonstrated on the ground. If further development succeeds, the same technology that carbonates a soft drink could one day propel a spacecraft off the surface of Mars.
