Researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras (IIT-M), are exploring if fuels of the future exist in outer space. Clathrate hydrates, which is a molecule of water with gasses like methane trapped inside, are being studied to explore whether fuel can be extracted from them.
These molecules are usually found in the high pressure and moderate temperatures of the ocean floor or in permafrost, which is frozen soil, rock or sediments inside earth. IIT-M researchers have now discovered water and methane molecules in this form in the vacuum and extreme cold outer space environment.
“With our demonstration we know that methane and water exist in the form of these molecules,” said Thalappil Pradeep, professor, department of chemistry at IIT-M, and one of the authors of the paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS)..