Paragon Space Development Corporation is developing Solid Oxide Electrolysis (SOE) as the next generation electrolysis/Sabatier subsystem to enable 100% oxygen regenerative air revitalization systems (ARS). Oxygen regenerated from a crew's expired CO₂ and H₂ O vapor is essential to enabling a continuous human presence on the moon and distant exploration of Mars at significantly reduced cost and risks. Other applications include O₂ and propellant generation using lunar & Martian resources, O₂ regeneration for Navy and ocean research submersibles, and O₂ regeneration for hazardous material handlers, rescue personnel or other professionals performing in extreme environments.

This high temperature concept (up to 850°C) takes advantage of a SOE cell's inherent ability to regenerate O₂ from CO₂ and H₂ O simultaneously, producing CO and H₂ as by-products. The by-product of CO and H₂ is addressed by employing Sabatier reactor technology embedded within the SOE unit to increase safety and reduce complexity/volume.

No other system can promise 100% oxygen regeneration without relying on consumables from Earth. Current water electrolysis/Sabatier reactor technology can only regenerate 80% of a human's oxygen requirement without the use of a consumable such as hydrogen. The SOE concept safely eliminates handling of hydrogen, and works irrespective of gravity and pressure environments with no moving parts and no multi-phase flows.

Under a NASA Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) contract, Paragon is developing a to-scale preprototype. In support of this, Paragon developed 1-inch heaters in-house to attain up to 950°C temperatures in a small volume. Material testing was performed to identify manifolds that could withstand the high temperature, corrosive environments. A Sabatier catalyst was developed for this application and tested, using gas chromatography to quantify methane production. Over a thousand hours of electrolysis testing has been performed using single cells to understand performance and influence the stack design. Chemical thermodynamic analyses were performed and corroborated with testing to show that the design will not incur carbon deposition in the unit. Manufacture and assembly of the pre-prototype is now complete and testing has begun.