Evaluation of PlanetWest Tech
LOS ANGELES, CA – May 24, 2025
PlanetWest's newly developed MIDAC carbon capture technology could potentially help NASA and JPL's carbon projects:
Understanding PlanetWest's MIDAC Technology:
• PlanetWest describes its MIDAC (patent pending) system as a "breakthrough in carbon capture technology."
• It is designed to sequester significant amounts of carbon "swiftly and efficiently."
• A key feature is its aim to minimize energy consumption and costs associated with carbon capture.
• PlanetWest is a green tech company based in Los Angeles, founded in 2023, and focused on Direct Air Capture (DAC) systems and the Internet of Things (IoT) for autonomous climate control.
How MIDAC Could Aid NASA and JPL Carbon Projects:
NASA and JPL are actively involved in various carbon-related projects, focusing on monitoring, understanding, and potentially Mitigating carbon emissions and their impact on the Earth system.
PlanetWest's MIDAC technology could contribute to these efforts in several ways:
• Direct Air Capture for Research and Development: JPL's Carbon Cycle and Ecosystems group researches carbon cycle-climate interactions and develops new sensors and measurement techniques. MIDAC could serve as a technology for studying the efficiency and effectiveness of direct air capture in a real-world setting. The data gathered could inform NASA's understanding of carbon removal technologies.
• Supporting Carbon Monitoring Missions: NASA JPL is involved in missions like the Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO) and collaborates on projects like Carbon Mapper, which aim to precisely measure and track greenhouse gas emissions, including carbon dioxide. While MIDAC directly captures carbon rather than monitors it, the deployment and analysis of its performance could provide valuable ground-truth data or insights into the potential scale and impact of DAC technologies, complementing the data gathered from space-based observations.
• Potential for Integration with IoT for Climate Applications: PlanetWest emphasizes the use of IoT for autonomous climate control in conjunction with its DAC technology. This aspect could be of interest to NASA and JPL as they explore innovative solutions for climate monitoring and mitigation. Integrating DAC systems with smart, autonomous control could optimize their efficiency and scalability, potentially for use in future closed-loop life support systems for space exploration or for terrestrial applications.
• Contributing to Megacity Emissions Reduction Efforts: JPL's Megacities Carbon Project in Los Angeles aims to monitor and quantify greenhouse gas emissions from large urban areas. If PlanetWest's MIDAC technology proves effective and scalable within an urban environment like Los Angeles (where the company is based), it could represent a potential local solution for carbon capture that complements the broader monitoring efforts of JPL.
• Advancing Carbon Removal Technologies: NASA has an interest in understanding and potentially utilizing various carbon removal technologies as part of broader climate science and potential future space-based resource utilization. MIDAC could be a technology that NASA and JPL could study for its efficiency, scalability, and environmental impact, contributing to the overall knowledge base on carbon capture solutions.
Important Considerations:
• Technology Maturity and Validation: As PlanetWest's MIDAC technology is newly developed and patent-pending, its effectiveness, scalability, and energy efficiency would need to be rigorously tested and validated through independent studies. Collaboration with NASA/JPL could provide a valuable platform for such validation.
• Integration with Existing Projects: The extent to which MIDAC can directly integrate with ongoing NASA/JPL carbon projects would depend on the specific goals and requirements of those projects.
• Public-Private Partnership Potential: Given the collaborative nature of some of NASA/JPL's carbon initiatives (like the Carbon Mapper project involving Planet Labs), there might be opportunities for a public-private partnership to explore the potential of MIDAC technology.
In conclusion, PlanetWest's MIDAC carbon capture technology, with its focus on efficient and cost-effective direct air capture and integration with IoT, holds potential relevance for NASA and JPL's carbon projects. It could contribute to research on DAC technologies, provide ground-truth data for carbon monitoring efforts, and potentially offer a solution for local emissions reduction in urban areas like Los Angeles, where JPL has ongoing projects. However, further validation and research would be needed to fully assess its benefits and integration possibilities.