Salt lakes on Mars provide oxygen and hydrogen
(ORDO NEWS) — Scientists have found a completely new way to get oxygen and hydrogen from salt lakes on Mars. Electrolysis will help with this, PNAS reports.
A person cannot simply live and breathe on Mars, since the atmosphere there is 95% discharged. The temperature will also become a problem, which averages minus 63 degrees, and the drops can reach one hundred degrees.
The source of the much needed oxygen and hydrogen on the Red Planet can be Martian water, its existence has been proven since 1971. In 2015, traces of “brine” were found – water with a high level of salt that does not freeze in harsh conditions. Two years ago, they discovered a reservoir with a diameter of 20 kilometers.
Scientists representing the University of Washington have created a facility that allows you to get oxygen and hydrogen from the Martian “brine”. For the experiment, they created water similar in composition to the salt lakes of Mars. Lead-ruthenium oxide Pb2Ru2O7-δ was used as an electrocatalyst for the generation of oxygen; platinum on activated carbon was used for hydrogen.
The studies have been successful and the results are more effective than in previous experiments. Observations and scientific advances will make it possible to successfully colonize Mars, creating all the conditions for a normal life for the first settlers.
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