Oxygen Generation on Mars

[Wayne Mack]

I'm not sure about how fast this generates oxygen; it seems to say that since 2021, Perseverance has generated enough oxygen to keep a small dog alive fro 10 hours. These are the only numbers I could glean from the article, so the actual result might be more impressive. It is a positive step, though.

MSN

 

[BAYLOR]

The problem with an atmosphere on Mars is that there no magnetic field to protect any atmosphere we'd put there being stripped away by the Solar Winds. Mars lost it magnetic field about 3 billion year ago when's its core cooled down . We have to find a way to restart Mars's core ( I can;'t imagine how that would be done ) . Once started Mars needs a proper sized moon proportional to its diameter to get plate tectonics activity and volcanism going again. Then we put an atmosphere o the planet and divert ice asteroids to ad water to the planet.

 

[Wayne Mack]

I don't the scale is anywhere close what is needed for terraforming. It sounds more like a way to provide breathable air to an enclosed habitat.

 

[Swank]

I don't think you actually need that much oxygen for people, unless you want their living quarters to be hundreds of times larger than the ship they came in. And that's because you can recycle the oxygen from the CO2 and H2O that our bodies make.

But oxygen for combustion is priceless if you going to keep using chemical rockets.

 

[RDArmstrong]

Interesting. I wonder how large these devices could scale and what the output could be. Could you eventually provide an entire installation with enough oxygen by using the planet's resources?

 

[Dave]

Is MOXIE the same device as this that we discussed back in 2017? Generating Oxygen on Mars?

Also, whenever someone talks about Oxygen Generation on Mars, I can't help but think of the end of the first Total Recall film (1990). However, that was an ancient reactor working on underground ice on a planetary scale, and even if it worked some Quora answers still identify problems with scaling up: In the film Total Recall, an atmosphere is produced simply by heating the ice to produce oxygen. Is this plausible? I know science is not...

I'm not sure that a microwave sized machine would be easier than just carrying liquid oxygen cylinders to Mars for the amount it creates.

 

[feralreason]

Probably mentioned elsewhere, but Electrolysis is the method usually discussed to split water into hydrogen (fuel) and oxygen. Driven by solar, this would likely work if we find (confirm) reasonable sources of water on Mars. Long term, we might think about bringing ice to Mars. See Asimov's "The Martian Way" - but, short term, from mining asteroids or, in a generation or 3, the moons of Saturn (Enceladus is a good prospect) rather than its rings (as suggested by Asimov.)

 

[Swank]

Isn't the major problem with other worlds the lack of nitrogen, potassium and other life elements?

 

[Pyan]

I'm sure I have read a novel where humankind kick-start the O² cycle on Mars by diverting comets/asteroids/spare moons to crash on its surface. Is this a real thing?

 

[Astro Pen]

This is where we learn that science fiction is just that, fiction. And that scientific reality is a harsh mistress.
The size of Earth’s atmosphere (therefore a terraforming ball park figure) is estimated to be around 5140 trillion tonnes.*
So good luck with that electrolysis.

The other factor is that you have to look at humainty across the world and how it lives and thinks. Very few in those billions have the remotest interest in going to and colonising another planet. I am as guilty of modernist arrogance as any SF writer but that isn't what most people want. And in the end the earthly cultural richness and complexity that people enjoy eclipses the reality of any kind of Mars station bubble survival.





*What Is The Volume Of Earth's Atmosphere? - Explaining Space

 

[BAYLOR]

Mars has no magnetic field , That died billions of years ago because the core cooled . You need the field otherwise the solar wind will strip away any atmosphere put in place.

 

[Dave]

Couldn't an artificial magnetic field be created? Wouldn't creating some kind of artificial magnetic field shield device be by far less of a problem than the problem of scaling up the Oxygen producing machine?

 

[Foxbat]

Isn't the major problem with other worlds the lack of nitrogen, potassium and other life elements?

I think this is an important point because Man cannot live on Oxygen alone. The O2 concentration in air is about 20.9%
Above this level, Oxygen can be toxic (although can be tolerated for very short periods and can be used to aid healing). I believe we also need a little CO2 in our atmosphere to regulate diaphragm movement.

So, we don't need to just be able to produce O2 but also need to dilute it to a usable level and this is where gases like N2 and CO2 become important in the makeup of our atmosphere.

Trace elements like Potassium could probably be introduced via vitamin supplements.

 

[BAYLOR]

Couldn't an artificial magnetic field be created? Wouldn't creating some kind of artificial magnetic field shield device be by far less of a problem than the problem of scaling up the Oxygen producing machine?

In theory , they could create a apparatus to generate an artificial magnetic field on a planet wide scale.

 

[Venusian Broon]

I think this is an important point because Man cannot live on Oxygen alone. The O2 concentration in air is about 20.9%
Above this level, Oxygen can be toxic (although can be tolerated for very short periods and can be used to aid healing). I believe we also need a little CO2 in our atmosphere to regulate diaphragm movement.

So, we don't need to just be able to produce O2 but also need to dilute it to a usable level and this is where gases like N2 and CO2 become important in the makeup of our atmosphere.

Trace elements like Potassium could probably be introduced via vitamin supplements.

Both elements seem reasonably accessible on Mars, (at least potassium is abundant and one of the Mars rovers found 'biologically useful' amounts of nitrates on the surface.) So I assume, in theory, in the same way you can make oxygen gas in the above experiment, one could cook up what is required from these raw materials.

 

[Serendipity]

The lack of a magnetic field on Mars does not stop it having 'open air' habitations - take a look at Alastair Reynolds' 'The Great Wall of Mars'... this helped me develop my own 'open air' habitation system on Mars that is far more satisfying, engineeringly speaking.

 

[Swank]

I think this is an important point because Man cannot live on Oxygen alone. The O2 concentration in air is about 20.9%
Above this level, Oxygen can be toxic (although can be tolerated for very short periods and can be used to aid healing). I believe we also need a little CO2 in our atmosphere to regulate diaphragm movement.

So, we don't need to just be able to produce O2 but also need to dilute it to a usable level and this is where gases like N2 and CO2 become important in the makeup of our atmosphere.

Trace elements like Potassium could probably be introduced via vitamin supplements.

Most space craft are 100% oxygen, but at a low pressure.

Vitamins will also be needed feed to crops and soil. If you want something like a sustainable ecosystem, you need enough of those elements for all the plants and fauna.

 

[Foxbat]

Most space craft are 100% oxygen, but at a low pressure.

Interesting. From what I can find, it appears that this concentration at low pressure is equivalent to being about 10 000 feet above sea level.

 

[Pyan]

Interesting. From what I can find, it appears that this concentration at low pressure is equivalent to being about 10 000 feet above sea level.

That's not too bad - over two million people live in La Paz, Bolivia, nearly 2000 feet higher.

 

[Swank]

Interesting. From what I can find, it appears that this concentration at low pressure is equivalent to being about 10 000 feet above sea level.

I was wrong about ISS - that's a normal atmosphere. But spacecraft that run on pure oxygen do so at 5 psi, the equivalent of 28,000 pressure. That gives the same 'partial pressure' of oxygen as sea level.