Indian-origin scientist-led US team finds new system to extract oxygen from Mars’s salty water

A new system that can extract oxygen and hydrogen from the salt water on Mars was developed by a team in the USA led by a scientist of Indian origin.

According to a Report in Edexlive, The new result from the team, led by Vijay Ramani, a professor at Washington University in the US, has the potential to change the logistics of the future mission to Mars and beyond.

How does the new system work?

According to the report, the researchers found that Mars is very cold and unfrozen water is almost certainly filled with salt from the Martian soil, thereby lowering the freezing temperature. Using the existing electricity method to break down salt water into oxygen and hydrogen requires the removal of the salt, which is a cumbersome and costly undertaking in a harsh, dangerous Martian environment.

The team examined the new system in a simulated Martian atmosphere at minus 36 degrees Celsius. “Our Mars brine electrolyser is radically changing the logistical computation of missions to Mars and beyond. This technology is equally useful on Earth, where it opens up the oceans as a viable source of oxygen and fuel,” the report quoted Ramani as saying. In 2008, NASA’s Phoenix Mars lander “touched and tasted” Martian water, fumes from molten ice excavated from the lander.

Oxygen, the fuel needed to live on Mars

Since then, the European Space Agency’s Mars Express has discovered several underground ponds of water that remain in a liquid state thanks to the presence of magnesium perchlorate salt. In the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), researchers noted that astronauts need to create some of the necessities, including water and water, to live, even temporarily, on Mars, let alone return to Earth Fuel, on the Red Planet, the report said.

New system better than NASA’s

Nasa’s Perseverance Rover, on its way to Mars, will only produce oxygen from the carbon dioxide in the air. It will use the Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment (MOXIE). The system developed in Ramani’s lab can produce 25 times more oxygen than Nasa’s rover with the same output, the researchers said, adding that it also produces hydrogen, which could be used to fuel the astronauts’ journey home.

“Our novel brine electrolyser contains a lead ruthenate pyrochlore anode developed by our team in conjunction with a platinum-on-carbon cathode,” said Ramani. “These carefully designed components, combined with the optimal application of traditional electrochemical principles, have resulted in this high level of performance,” the report quoted Ramani as saying. The meticulous design and unique anode allow the system without heating or cleaning the water source, the researchers said.

“Paradoxically, the perchlorate, so-called impurities, dissolved in water helps in an environment like that of Mars,” quoted Edexlive Shrihari Sankarasubramanian, a researcher in Ramani’s group. “They prevent the water from freezing and also improve the performance of the electrolyzer system by lowering the electrical resistance,” said Sankarasubramanian, who is also the joint lead author of the research paper on the study.

New system better than water electrolysers

Water electrolysers typically use high purity, deionized water, which the researchers say adds to the cost of the system. A system that can operate on “suboptimal” or salty water, like the technology demonstrated by the team, can greatly improve the economic value proposition of water electrolysers anywhere, even on Earth, they said.

“After demonstrating these electrolysers under demanding Martian conditions, we intend to use them under much milder conditions on Earth to use brackish or salt water supplies to generate hydrogen and oxygen, for example through seawater electrolysis,” the report quoted the postdoctoral fellow Pralay Gayen Research Associate in Ramani’s group. He is also a joint lead author on the study.

Such applications could be useful in the defense field, generating oxygen on demand in submarines, for example, the researchers said. They could also provide oxygen as we explore unfamiliar environments in the deep sea.