Mars colonists could create a carbon dioxide plasma in order to supply oxygen to their settlement(s):
The atmosphere on Mars is 96 per cent carbon dioxide, says Vasco Guerra at the University of Lisbon in Portugal. This can be split to extract breathable oxygen and carbon monoxide, a fuel that could give us a "gas station on the Red Planet", he says. He and his team calculate that creating a carbon dioxide plasma — a mush of ions made by passing an electric current through a gas — could split carbon dioxide from oxygen more easily on Mars than on Earth.
The lower atmospheric pressure on Mars would allow us to create plasmas without the vacuum pumps or compressors necessary on Earth. Also, the temperature of around -60°C is just right to let the plasma more easily break one of the chemical bonds that keeps carbon and oxygen tightly bound, while preventing the carbon dioxide from re-forming.
For now, this is largely theoretical, but they say such a system needing only 150 to 200 Watts for 4 hours each 25-hour Mars day could produce 8 to 16 kilograms of oxygen. "The International Space Station currently consumes oxygen in the range of 2 to 5 kilograms per day, so this would be enough to support a small settlement," says Guerra.
The case for in situ resource utilisation for oxygen production on Mars by nonequilibrium plasmas (open, DOI: 10.1088/1361-6595) (DX)
(Score: 2) by requerdanos on Friday October 27 2017, @01:52PM
I know, brilliant, right? This is really the most practical "How To Get Oxygen To Breathe Or Whatever On Mars" that I have ever seen.
But you know, political squabbles over whether Earth or the Martian colonists own the oxygen and/or energy from the reactions, petty bickering among staff isolated and far from home reducing effectiveness and efficiency, even distraction on Mars stemming from the lack of available romantic partners compared to "back home"; so, there are lots of things that could go wrong, and things could blow up. Sigh. We are only human.