Our Research on Mars

Nepal Aerospace is proud to announce that its research on In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) on Mars has been officially published by the International Astronautical Federation (IAF), one of the world’s leading global space organizations. The research was further presented at the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) 2025, the world’s largest annual space congress, held in Sydney, Australia.

Read the full paper here: https://dl.iafastro.directory/event/IAC-2025/paper/97913/

The study was led by Mr. Sakshyam Prabhat Adhikari, Founder and Executive Director of Nepal Aerospace, who served as the Lead Researcher of the project. The research team included Luca De Caneva, a NASA CIF Awardee, and Vishwajith Lal, currently an intern at the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

The paper, titled “Mars Ceria Redox Oxygen System for In-Situ Oxygen Generation” (IAC-25, A3, IP, 101, x97913), introduces the first formally published system-level architecture applying the ceria (CeO₂) thermochemical redox cycle specifically for oxygen production on Mars.

While ceria redox chemistry has been extensively studied on Earth in solar-thermochemical fuel research, Adhikari’s work translates these principles into a Mars-ready engineering design capable of extracting oxygen directly from Mars’ CO₂-rich atmosphere using a high-temperature, solar-driven process. The system is designed to operate under Martian atmospheric pressure and aims to produce more oxygen than the current state-of-the-art (SOA).

This approach differs fundamentally from NASA’s MOXIE experiment, which produces oxygen using solid-oxide electrolysis, whereas this system relies on thermochemical ceria redox cycling.

Adhikari has also previously submitted a related concept to NASA as a New Technology Report (NTR) and has collaborated with Arizona State University (ASU), NASA, and the Space Generation Advisory Council (SGAC), reflecting a strong record of international collaboration in space research.