Paragon Space Development Corporation (Paragon), and its partner Giner Inc., are proud to announce that they are now under contract for the development and testing of the ISRU-derived water purification and Hydrogen Oxygen Production (IHOP), a patent-pending subsystem and advancement of the subsystem architecture as part of NASA’s NextSTEP BAA Program. IHOP is a game changing technology that enables an enduring human presence on the moon and beyond. The IHOP system purifies naturally occurring deposits of water and generates oxygen and hydrogen at commercially competitive scales. Once delivered to the moon, IHOP will provide the water and oxygen needed for a continuous human presence on the moon, and the low cost propellant needed to explore the solar system.

The practice of in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) will increase safety and affordability of future human spaceflight missions by limiting the need to launch supplies, such as oxygen, water, and propellant from Earth – and allow extended stays on the lunar surface which require sources of oxygen to be readily available for explorers and inhabitants. 

“Paragon is committed to supporting NASA in its goal to build a sustainable presence on the Moon in a few short years,” stated Grant Anderson, Paragon’s President and CEO. “Our technical solution builds upon already-executed NASA SBIR investments as well as internal R&D to achieve a high return for NASA on prior funded work. Combined with our cryo-storage solution, our team provides a turnkey system for hydrogen and oxygen production and storage.”

Added Dr. Corky Mittelsteadt, CEO of Giner Inc, “Giner is proud to be a part of this project utilizing our patented lightweight electrolyzer technology which is the direct product of over 30 years of PEM electrolyzer development with NASA for life support, energy storage and ISRU.”

“I’m proud to see Southern Arizona become the hub for developing innovative technologies that allow us to launch new endeavors into space!” remarked Congresswoman Ann Kirkpatrick, Representative for Arizona’s 2nd Congressional District.

For over 25 years, Paragon has been a trusted leader in providing extreme environment life support and thermal control solutions – including spacecraft life support systems, thermal control radiators, and next generation cooling systems – to support mission critical operations for space, military, and commercial customers around the world. For more information and other news, visit www.paragonsdc.com.