Bremen Human Space Exploration Seminar

Guest: Dr. Paul Zabel

Paul Zabel is Doctor of Engieering at DLR in Bremen/Germany, Head of Synergetic Material Utilization research group.

Sustainable space exploration requires the development of In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) technologies, which encompass all processes that utilize local resources to generate useful products for robotic and human exploration. Among the available resources, water is the most versatile and most needed in space exploration. Water can be directly used as consumable for astronauts or electrolyzed to hydrogen and oxygen, a very effective rocket propellant combination. However, in-situ water extraction is challenging and the required technologies are not yet fully developed. Water purification on the other hand is already well developed for space life support systems, but need to be adapted to treat in-situ water. This presentation gives an overview of DLR’s activities in the area of in-situ water extraction and purification.

Dr. Paul Zabel studied aerospace engineering at the Technical University of Dresden and has a doctorate from the same university. He works at DLR since 2012. Between 2012 and 2020, his research focus was on technology development, modelling and simulation of bio-regenerative life support systems for future human space missions. Since 2021, he leads the Synergetic Material Utilization group at the DLR Institute of Space Systems, which focuses on ISRU technology development and on synergies between ISRU and life support systems.

Bremen Human Space Exploration Seminar

The seminar takes ususally place every third Wednesday of the month at 13:30 CET/CEST online via zoom and consists of a 40-minute talk followed by a 40-minute discussion.

The zoom link for the meeting will be send via email to all registered members of the space-exploration mailing list. You can register here.