SpaceX plans to send spaceships to Mars and then refuel them there. But how? There are prolly no fossil fuels on Mars (There are no fossils. Probably.) Standard rocket fuel is high-grade jet fuel (kerosene/paraffin). We can make jet fuel from CO2 and hydrogen. But it's more complicated to make kerosene than it is to make another hydrocarbon, methane. So SpaceX designed a new methane-burning rocket engine, from scratch, and then a spaceship, Starship, on which the new engines will be fitted, using a virtually brand-new material and technology, stainless steel.
So far, SpaceX hasn't spent any time or resources on developing technology to produce methane from CO2 and hydrogen. Given how rapidly SpaceX and Tesla have cut the costs of the new technologies they have embraced, it seems likely that SpaceX will develop cheap machinery and techniques to produce methane. This won't just be useful on Mars, but also right here on Earth. Cheap processes to extract CO2 from the atmosphere will be essential if we are to avoid a temperature rise of more than 2 degrees C by 2060. And green methane will be very useful as an additional form of storage for grid stability.
Here's an interesting video from What About It speculating that SpaceX has started research and experimentation to manufacture machinery to produce methane on Mars. Start watching at 8.29 minutes in and continue up to about 13 minutes in.
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