A first generation Plasma Pyrolysis Assembly (PPA) prototype was developed for NASA to prove basic functionality of a novel microwave plasma methane decomposition technology. Methane (CH₄), a byproduct of the Sabatier carbon dioxide (CO₂) reduction reactor used aboard the International Space Station (ISS) to recover oxygen (O₂) from waste CO₂, is currently vented to space. The Sabatier reaction allows recovery of roughly 50% of the O₂ in the form of water vapor via a catalytic reaction between CO₂ and hydrogen (H₂). The CH₄ produced represents a 50% loss of required H₂. The PPA technology was developed to recover up to 75% of this bound H₂, which increases the O₂ yield to roughly 86% for a given amount of consumed H₂, thereby extending mission duration with minimal resupply of Crew Member (CM) life support O₂.

The 1st generation PPA technology was demonstrated as both a stand-alone device and integrated with the Sabatier Development Unit (SDU), located at Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) in Huntsville Alabama. In this testing, significant room for improvement was identified in both the core reactor and overall assembly design. To address these shortcomings, a Phase III advanced PPA reactor (2nd generation) development effort was initiated at Umpqua Research Company (URC) in February of 2011. The first part of this work improved both the scale (from ½-CM to 1-CM) and the efficiency of the PPA reactor technology over the 1st generation device. A Phase III extension was then awarded that scaled up the 1-CM PPA design to an even more efficient 4-CM scale, 3rd generation self-contained prototype PPA.