Ford's new solution captures the volatile organic compounds from paint waste and concentrates them into a rich mixture of hydrocarbons.

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"The guess is that both the water and the dark material, which we think is organic-rich material, were delivered by the same objects impacting Mercury: some mixture of comets and the kinds of asteroids that are rich in organic and volatile material like water ice, " Prof Solomon said.

BBC: Mercury's water ice at north pole finally proven

That mixture is then fed into a fuel reformer that turns it into a hydrogen-rich gas.

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