Biofuels in Space: 3rd Most Bizarre Biofuels Story of the Year

Though dollars for commercializing biofuels are as scarce as water on Mars, two projects have found R&D funding to look at opportunities for growing biofuels in space.

Last August, we covered a group at NASA’s Ames Research Center who are working to convert space-based plant residues, from plants grown by astronauts to provide food and breathing air for long-period space travel, into sources of fuel, chemicals and food.

In March, jatropha seeds went into orbit on the space shuttle, where a research project looked at growth rates. Perhaps somewhere in outer space, NASA can find a banker ready to lend money for a commercial-stage progress.