Patrick Brown always wanted to be an astronaut. He may never make it to space, but the technology he’s helping to develop just may help humans reach Mars.

The University of Rhode Island chemical engineering student from Westerly, R.I. is interning at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. He serves as part of a team developing a new solid oxide fuel cell system lighter and more robust than anything in existence. Moreover, the system can take methane – which can be produced from natural resources on Mars – and convert it to hydrogen. That can power fuel cells that generate electricity. For it to work, the team must understand exactly how to extract hydrogen from methane and how to do it on a planet never closer than 34 million miles away.

“Sure, a chemist could explain how these reactions work,” Brown says. “But the engineering side tells you how these things fit together into a practical piece of technology you can bring into space.”

For Brown and the team, weight is number one. Today it costs NASA about $10,000 to place a single pound of material into space. That’s why hefty and limited power batteries are not an option for a Mars trip.

After weight comes sustainability and reliability. NASA cannot practically resupply a spacecraft hurling toward Mars. Using methane will eliminate the need for resupply trips. Meanwhile, a complex series of tests and prototypes will ensure the fuel cell and its attached systems can withstand the extreme temperatures and forces of space.

“I’ve learned it’s amazing how much work goes into making something that might not seem that complex,” Brown says. “You can’t just call AAA for a tow. It comes down to intensive testing and development to make sure it’s going to work.”

The preliminary work has yielded positive results and NASA asked Brown to stay an additional month in Houston. Plus, the team is vying for a spot on a Mars rover scheduled to be launched around 2020 and land on the Red Planet. Brown says if the team is selected, the fuel cell system will be loaded on the rover – sister to the Mars Curiosity – and receive the ultimate test of its abilities.

Even if the fuel cell never reaches Mars, Brown says the paid internship has been a field day for a space buff like him. In the office next door, researchers work on warp speed – travel faster than the speed of light. On the same campus, Mission Control keeps watch over the International Space Station.

To get to Houston, Brown applied for 15 internships at the space agency – the maximum number of applications allowed. NASA interviewed him for three positions and eventually selected him to intern within the Engineering Directorate in Texas. Brown brought a broad-based chemical engineering background – even if it did take him a while to settle on an academic career.

After high school Brown, now 27, joined the Air Force Academy, decided it wasn’t for him and enrolled at Colgate University. He drifted away from pursuing his passion for space and ultimately transferred to the University of Rhode Island, where he expects to graduate in December 2014.

Brown says he’s happy with his decision to attend URI and pleased it provided a foundation for him to intern at NASA, a place he hopes to work one day, exploring space, the final frontier.

“It’s the mystery of the unknown,” Brown says of his attraction to space. “We occupy the smallest piece of the physical universe and we’ve only been around the shortest time. The bulk of existence does not involve human beings.”