Can we use the planetary environment of Mars to help power a future colony on the Red Planet? This is what a recent study published in Device hopes to address as a team of researchers investigated how current thermoelectric generators—which can operate in a myriad of environments—on Mars could convert carbon dioxide (CO2) into fuel and other chemicals that can be used for a future Mars colony. This study holds the potential to help scientists, engineers, and the public better understand how a future Mars colony could be managed and operated without constant need for resupply from Earth.
“This is a harsh environment where large temperature differences could be leveraged to not only generate power with thermoelectric generators, but to convert the abundant CO2 in Mars’ atmosphere into useful products that could supply a colony,” said Dr. Abhishek Soni, who is a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of British Columbia (UBC) and lead author of the study.
For the study, the researchers conducted laboratory experiments with a CO2 electrolyzer, which are powered by thermoelectric generators, and a hot plate and ice bath, which obviously provide a wide range of temperatures to see how the CO2 electrolyzer converts CO2 to useful chemicals. In the end, the researchers found when the temperature difference between the ice bath and hot plate was 104 degrees Fahrenheit (40 degrees Celsius), the electrolyzer was still able to successfully convert CO2 to carbon monoxide (CO).
Image of Dr. Abhishek Soni working with a CO2 electrolyzer powered by thermoelectric generators with an ice bath(foreground). (Credit: Alex Walls, University of British Columbia Media Relations)
“This paper shows a fun way to make carbon-neutral fuels and chemicals,” said Dr. Curtis P. Berlinguette, who is a Professor & Distinguished University at UBC and a co-author on the study. “We’ll need plastic on Mars one day, and this technology shows one way we can make it there.”
As the researchers aspire to conduct these experiments outside of the lab, this study comes as NASA plans to land humans on the Moon in the next few years with the Artemis Program, which aims to develop the necessary technologies to send humans to Mars through the agency’s Moon to Mars Architecture.
How will thermoelectric generators help power a future Mars colony in the coming years and decades? Only time will tell, and this is why we science!
As always, keep doing science & keep looking up!
Sources: Device, EurekAlert!, The University of British Columbia