Plasma-based conversion of martian atmosphere into life-sustaining chemicals: The benefits of utilizing martian ambient pressure

We explored the potential of plasma-based In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) for Mars through the conversion of Martian atmosphere (similar to 96% CO2, 2% N-2, and 2% Ar) into life-sustaining chemicals. As the Martian surface pressure is about 1% of the Earth's surface pressure, it is an ideal environment for plasma-based gas conversion using microwave reactors. At 1000 W and 10 Ln/min (normal liters per minute), we produced similar to 76 g/h of O-2 and similar to 3 g/h of NOx using a 2.45 GHz waveguided reactor at 25 mbar, which is similar to 3.5 times Mars ambient pressure. The energy cost required to produce O-2 was similar to 0.013 kWh/g, which is very promising compared to recently concluded MOXIE experiments on the Mars surface. This marks a crucial step towards realizing the extension of human exploration