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Fuel and oxygen harvesting from Martian regolithic brine.

ABSTRACT: NASA's current mandate is to land humans on Mars by 2033. Here, we demonstrate an approach to produce ultrapure H₂ and O₂ from liquid-phase Martian regolithic brine at ∼-36 °C. Utilizing a Pb₂Ru₂O_7-δ pyrochlore O₂-evolution electrocatalyst and a Pt/C H₂-evolution electrocatalyst, we demonstrate a brine electrolyzer with >25× the O₂ production rate of the Mars Oxygen In Situ Resource Utilization Experiment (MOXIE) from NASA's Mars 2020 mission for the same input power under Martian terrestrial conditions. Given the Phoenix lander's observation of an active water cycle on Mars and the extensive presence of perchlorate salts that depress water's freezing point to ∼-60 °C, our approach provides a unique pathway to life-support and fuel production for future human missions to Mars.

SUBMITTER: Gayen P

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7749281 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Fuel and oxygen harvesting from Martian regolithic brine.

Gayen Pralay P Sankarasubramanian Shrihari S Ramani Vijay K VK

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 20201130 50

NASA's current mandate is to land humans on Mars by 2033. Here, we demonstrate an approach to produce ultrapure H2 and O2 from liquid-phase Martian regolithic brine at ∼-36 °C. Utilizing a Pb2Ru2O7-δ pyrochlore O2-evolution electrocatalyst and a Pt/C H2-evolution electrocatalyst, we demonstrate a brine electrolyzer with >25× the O2 production rate of the Mars Oxygen In Situ Resource Utilization Experiment (MO ...[more]

PMID: 33257545

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