Gino Carro, a pressure vessels and systems engineer for Kennedy Space Center’s Laboratory Support Services and Operations contract, prepares NASA’s Orbital Syngas Commodity Augmentation Reactor (OSCAR) for vibration tests inside the Vibration Test Lab at the Florida spaceport on Jan. 14, 2021. The tests are part of ongoing preparation for a scheduled suborbital flight test later this year. Beginning as an Early Career Initiative project, OSCAR studies technology to convert trash and human waste into useful gasses such as methane, hydrogen, and carbon dioxide. By processing small pieces of trash in a high-temperature reactor, OSCAR would reduce the amount of space needed for waste storage within a spacecraft, turn some waste into gasses that have energy storage and life support applications, and ensure waste is no longer biologically active.