Researchers report a potential approach for generating fuel and oxygen on Mars. NASA's Phoenix lander has found evidence of an active water cycle and extensive subsurface ice on Mars, as well as evidence that magnesium perchlorate (Mg(ClO4)2) is a major component of Martian soil. Because concentrated Mg(ClO4)2 solutions can remain liquid at Martian surface temperatures, liquid perchlorate brine may occur on Mars's surface and subsurface. Pralay Gayen, Shrihari Sankarasubramanian, and Vijay K. Ramani demonstrated the possibility of simultaneously generating hydrogen fuel and oxygen for life support via electrolysis of this brine. The authors constructed electrolyzers incorporating a lead ruthenate pyrochlore anode, which catalyzes oxygen evolution, and a platinum/carbon cathode, which catalyzes hydrogen evolution. Next, the authors tested the electrolyzers with a concentrated Mg(ClO4)2 solution feed in the presence of CO2 at ultra-low temperature, simulating the Martian environment, and compared the performance to that of the Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment (MOXIE) from NASA's Mars 2020 mission, which produces oxygen via electrolysis of CO2. The electrolyzers produced 25 times as much oxygen as MOXIE for the same input power. According to the authors, the findings suggest that electrolysis of perchlorate brine could provide both fuel and life-support oxygen for future human missions to Mars.
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Article #20-08613:
"Fuel and oxygen harvesting from Martian regolithic brine," by Pralay Gayen, Shrihari Sankarasubramanian, and Vijay K. Ramani.
MEDIA CONTACT:
Vijay K. Ramani,
Washington University in St. Louis, MO;
tel: 314-935-7924;
e-mail: <ramani@wustl.edu>