Mars colonists could get fuel and oxygen from water on the Red Planet - Space.com

Colonists on Mars could one day generate fuel and oxygen from saltwater on the Red Planet, a new study finds.

In order to live on Mars, any potential colonists will need oxygen to breathe and fuels such as hydrogen gas to power their equipment.

Any water they find on the Red Planet will therefore prove invaluable, as they can use electricity and other methods to break water down into both hydrogen and oxygen.

Since brines containing water and perchlorates may remain liquid even at the chilly temperatures found on the Martian surface, Ramani and his colleagues wanted to see if they could use a technique known as electrolysis to split water molecules to form hydrogen and oxygen using electricity.

In the new study, their experiments revealed such catalysts could help electrolyze perchlorate brines, generating ultra-pure hydrogen and oxygen at the kind of ultra-low temperatures found on the Martian surface.

"We can derive oxygen for breathing and hydrogen for fuel using materials on Mars itself, the briny water now known to be present there," Ramani said.

Previously, the NASA Mars Perseverance rover's Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment (MOXIE) showed it could use electricity to break down carbon dioxide into oxygen and carbon monoxide.

"When we're talking about exploring space or the surface of the moon or Mars, it's never just one technology that's used — it's never just one silver bullet that solves all issues," Ramani said.

"If you're in a submarine where there is limited oxygen and there is saltwater all around you, you could siphon in some saltwater and split it to get fresh oxygen," Ramani said!

For applications on land, you could also split briny water to generate hydrogen fuel.".