Mars Materials

Last month, Mars was invited to showcase at the Breakthrough Energy Summit in London. Front-and-center was the inspiring progress of BE Fellows projects including a riveting update from Ashley Grosh and the video release of Bill Gates's tour of Mars' piloting lab (Youtube link below) from March 2024. We couldn’t be more proud to share this video with you all and we’re so grateful for Breakthrough's continued support of Mars. Showcasing at the summit was transformational for us. We connected with innovators, leaders and visionaries dedicated to shaping a sustainable future. The insights and prospective collaboration opportunities are sure to propel us forward in our mission to sequester CO2 into valuable products. Until next time! https://lnkd.in/gbE5XPKa #innovation #carbontech #cdr #decarbonization

As we move into 2025, our team at Mars Materials is reflecting on an incredible year of progress, growth and innovation as we scale up our first-of-a-kind technology! This year, we made tremendous strides in our mission to convert everyday products into carbon sinks. In Q1, we proudly opened the doors to our pilot plant at the Shell Technology Center in Houston which included the honor of hosting a visit from Bill Gates! In Q2, we completed the fabrication and commissioning of our pilot plant, Cassini. The accelerated progress during this period would not have been possible without the support of our siting and funding partners. Shell provided laboratory space, access to its health, safety, security and environmental services and infrastructure as well as additional benefits from its massive scale and supply chain infrastructure. Breakthrough Energy Fellows’ provided access to an expansive network of scale-up experts and financial support to complete the design, fabrication and commissioning of our pilot unit in record time. Finally, the Caltech Rocket Fund provided support for the purchase, installation and calibration of analytical equipment for product quality assurance in samples sent to customers. In Q3, we embarked on the challenging, yet immensely rewarding process of starting up Cassini. This period was chalk-full of technical learnings that have propelled Mars Materials’ nitrilation process forward. There is no guidebook for scaling up first-of-a-kind technology and Mars leverages its vast network of scale-up experts and energetic team to move nimbly as it navigates a fast-shrinking landscape of unknown-unknowns. In Q4, we've increased Cassini’s production capacity and hosted industry stakeholders, investors and international delegates at our plant. As we kickoff 2025, we’re excited to continue scaling up our technology and producing samples for our customers.  If you're in the Houston area, let us know. We'd love to give you a tour of Cassini! #CarbonTech #EnergyTransition #SustainableChemicals

Mars Materials is thrilled to be named among the awardees of the Carbontech Development Initiative's (CDI) second round of funding! 🎉 With this funding, Mars will develop a bench-scale nitrilation reactor to facilitate the optimization of its catalyst. This award highlights the importance of advancing CO₂-to-materials innovation and we’re proud to contribute to a future where carbon emissions are transformed into valuable resources for sustainable manufacturing of critical supply chain materials. Thank you to CDI - Columbia Technology Ventures and NYSERDA - for leading a thriving carbontech ecosystem. Congratulations to our fellow awardees—your groundbreaking work in carbontech inspires us, and we’re excited to see the collective impact of these innovations. Together, we can achieve our collective vision of storing CO2 in everyday products! 🚀 #Carbontech #EnergyTransition #CarbonEconomy

Thank you, Energy Tech Nexus (ETN), for spotlighting our work, celebrating Aaron's leadership and amplifying the importance of innovation in the energy transition! At Mars Materials, we’re committed to storing captured-CO2 into critical supply chain materials such as carbon fiber, water and field service polymers. Houston ecosystem partners, including ETN, accelerate the achievement of our vision. For example, ETN’s expansive global network enabled Mars to connect with the European market and de-risk our commercial roadmap for market entry. Together, we can turn everyday products into carbon sinks! #EnergyTechNexus #EnergyTransition #Decarbonization

A big congratulations to Mars Materials co-founders Kristian and Aaron for graduating as Innovator Fellows from Cohort 2 of the Breakthrough Energy Fellows program! For two years, Mars received support from Breakthrough Energy, the Fellows program team, Business Fellows, program mentors and fellow cohort members. These relationships were transformational to our carbon removal and industrial decarbonization journey. With Breakthrough’s backing, Mars grew our team of Planeteers from 3 to 9, and designed, fabricated and fully commissioned our kilogram scale pilot plant. Massive thanks to Brenda and Rosemary for their technical guidance and to our primary Business fellows, Alice and Jane, for sharing their industry expertise and our workload. Also, kudos to the entire Breakthrough Energy Fellows team for providing an incredible program experience (Abigail Mathieson Ashley Grosh Benjamin Gaddy John Lemmon Jolene Gurevich Meghan Bader Saad Chaudhry Taylor Carvalho Karp Terence Tse). We join fellow cohort members in sharing our strong endorsement for the Fellows program and Fellows team. If you're a climate innovator, consider joining the program. Applications for Breakthrough Energy’s  Cohort 5 are now open. Learn more and apply for Cohort 5 here: befellows.smapply.org. What an inspiring group of climate trailblazers to be a part of - onward and drawdown together! #carbontech #breakthroughenergy #founders #startup

Mars Materials is hiring for a couple of process technician roles at our pilot plant and satellite campus! You’ll work alongside our engineers in our state-of-the-art pilot laboratory (https://lnkd.in/gupqcbeW). For those unfamiliar with our work, we're building carbon negative supply chains, starting with the production of acrylonitrile (AN), a molecule used in long-lived materials such as carbon fiber for car parts and building materials. If you love getting hands-on, are eager to gain experience in chemical operations and have a passion for protecting the environment then this is the position for you! These roles are full time and open now: Process Technician - Pilot Plant 💰$50,000 - $60,000 + equity 📍 Houston, TX (Remote: NO; Travel: NO) 📅 Start Date: NOW 🔗 Apply here! (https://lnkd.in/gqJRGC_a) Process Technician - Satellite Campus 💰$50,000 - $60,000 + equity 📍 Houston, TX (Remote: NO; Travel: NO) 📅 Start Date: NOW 🔗 Apply here! (https://lnkd.in/gqJRGC_a)

We're excited to update the Greentown Labs community at this year’s ClimateTech Summit. Tomorrow, Aaron will participate on a panel with Janice Tran of Kanin Energy and Ian Dunderdale of Element Energy, moderated by Moji Karimi of Cemvita Inc.. The panel is focused on leveraging pilot projects to unlock scale. We’re particularly excited to share our learnings working with partners such as Shell and Breakthrough Energy who enable our piloting efforts. Afterwards, connect with us directly at our Showcase booth. Can’t attend in person? No fear - you can attend virtually. Register to attend live or streaming here: https://lnkd.in/ezJsTM-H See you there! #startups #climate #houston #boston

Thrilled to share that Mars Materials won the Industrial Decarbonization pitch at the C3 Summit hosted by Centrepolis Accelerator @ Lawrence Technological University! During this exciting summit, our founders, Kristian and Aaron introduced Mars to the state of Michigan. This was an incredible opportunity given the state’s deep history in manufacturing and its track record of technology development and deployment. Cheers to our continued progress and the other trailblazing companies that presented! #USCompetitiveness #Reshoring #Carbontech

We’re thrilled to celebrate the first-ever Carbon Removal Day! Conceived by AirMiners, #CDRDay aims to increase global awareness of the scientific consensus that carbon removal is a must to reduce atmospheric levels of CO2 and avoid the most devastating climate change outcomes. As a public benefit corporation, Mars sits at the nexus of carbon removal and industrial decarbonization, providing downstream demand for captured-CO2 to produce its carbon-negative acrylonitrile. Mars’ acrylonitrile is used in long-lived everyday products such as carbon fiber, polymers and flocculants. Carbon fiber has a co-benefit when used in low-carbon applications such as hydrogen storage tanks and transmission lines. Mars’ earliest Planeteers - Kristian Gubsch, Trey Sheridan and Aaron Fitzgerald - met through Air Miners and were united by a shared goal of removing CO2 from the atmosphere and storing it in everyday products. Fast forward to today: we’ve assembled a team of 7 full-time Planeteers, partnered with renowned organizations such as National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Shell, Black & Veatch and Breakthrough Energy , and fully commissioned our pilot plant in record time! If you’re a prospective buyer, funder, supplier or ecosystem partner interested in joining the Mars mission, reach out! Learn more: https://lnkd.in/gD9dG5AF #CarbonRemovalDay #CDRNow #innovation #climate

For a second year in a row, we're at New York Climate Week and it feels bigger than ever! Our CEO & Co-Founder Aaron Fitzgerald will be traversing the city meeting supporters, prospective partners and collaborators. Send him a direct message if you want to find time to chat. #climateaction #innovation #startups