It’s part of the Perseverance rover mission to Mars, and it sounds like science fiction, but it’s not. Scientists from earth are ready to try manufacturing on an alien planet for the first time.

University of Rochester chemical engineers—in collaboration with researchers at the Naval Research Laboratory, the University of Pittsburgh, and OxEon Energy—have demonstrated that a potassium-promoted molybdenum carbide catalyst efficiently and reliably converts carbon dioxide to carbon monoxide, a critical step in turning seawater into fuel.