Aug 17, 2022 19:00:00

What is a 'plasma reactor' that can efficiently produce oxygen on Mars?

Mars, where the Mars probe '

Perseverance ' and others have landed and are undergoing intensive research. In an experiment that reproduces the environment of this planet, which is expected to be inhabited by humans, a plasma reactor, a device that converts gas into plasma, is used to produce oxygen more efficiently than conventional technology. announced that it was successful.

Plasmas for in situ resource utilization on Mars: Fuels, life support, and agriculture: Journal of Applied Physics: Vol 132, No 7
https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0098011

Plasma reactors could create oxygen on Mars | Science | AAAS
https://www.science.org/content/article/plasma-reactors-could-create-oxygen-mars

In 2021, the oxygen generator ' MOXIE ' attached to the Perseverance was successfully operated on Mars and successfully generated oxygen from the Martian atmosphere. MOXIE is a device that uses an electrochemical process to decompose carbon dioxide, which accounts for 95% of the atmosphere of Mars, into carbon monoxide and oxygen ions to produce oxygen. In operation on Mars, it succeeded in generating 5.37 g of oxygen in one hour, which is equivalent to the amount that an astronaut can breathe for about 10 minutes.

Vasco Guerra and colleagues at the University of Lisbon announced that they have developed a device that is more efficient than the generator attached to the Perseverance. The device devised by Guerra et al. accelerates the electron beam to an appropriate speed to convert carbon dioxide into plasma and generate oxygen. MOXIE needed to pressurize and heat the Martian air to produce oxygen, but the plasma reactor does not. Mr. Guerra says, 'There is an ideal pressure for plasmatization, but Mars is just perfect for that pressure.'

In experiments conducted in the laboratory, it was possible to convert 30% of the air that reproduced the pressure and composition of Mars into oxygen. The efficiency is about 14 g per hour, better than MOXIE, which is enough for about 28 minutes of breathing, Guerra and colleagues said.

However, it is necessary to solve some problems before actually operating on Mars. This device requires a portable power supply and a place to store the oxygen that it makes, all of which may be as bulky as MOXIE or more.

Michael Hecht of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who was not involved in the research, told the American Association for the Advancement of Science, ``If space agencies spend a lot of money to develop MOXIE, like NASA developed MOXIE, , this approach will bear fruit.Not only will it help you breathe, but it may also serve as a way to make fuel and fertilizer.Apart from being much more immature than MOXIE, plasma technology has There is no problem,' he said.