Noah Vogel, a U-M Aerospace Engineering student, was awarded a U-M Space Institute Power Grant in the amount of $5,000, for his project “BLiSS Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) Deposition Project” in March 2025.
“The Bioastronautics and Life Support Systems team (BLiSS) is a student-led organization at the University of Michigan focused on developing technologies for human spaceflight and planetary habitation. The VOC project team within BLiSS is developing a novel photocatalytic oxidation reactor designed to remove volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from spacecraft cabins, improving air quality for long-duration missions, and eliminating the need for disposable air filters in human spaceflight. The system utilizes UV light-activated titanium dioxide to break down harmful contaminants in continuous airflow into smaller, more manageable compounds that are safer to breathe in. This process combines principles from chemical engineering, materials science, aerospace engineering, optics, and many other disciplines. BLiSS VOC is currently finishing up the reactor build and experimental setup, as the team moves toward the full-scale testing of this system.”