The case for in situ resource utilisation for oxygen production on Mars by non-equilibrium plasmas

Abstract

Herein, it is argued that Mars has nearly ideal conditions for CO2 decomposition by non-equilibrium plasmas. It is shown that the pressure and temperature ranges in the CO2 Martian atmosphere favour the vibrational excitation and subsequent up-pumping of the asymmetric stretching mode, which is believed to be a key factor for an efficient plasma dissociation, at the expense of the excitation of the other modes. Therefore, gas discharges operating at atmospheric pressure on Mars are extremely strong candidates to produce O2 efficiently from the locally available resources.