Farting spaceships and the terraforming of Mars

Yesterday’s science fiction is today’s reality as humans have already begun producing oxygen on Mars says Satyen K. Bordoloi

In the climax of the 1990 sci-fi cult classic Total Recall, Arnold Schwarzenegger is flung out into the atmosphere of Mars. His eyes and limbs begin bulging as there’s no oxygen to breathe. But just before this, he had managed to activate a giant instrument left by aliens that begins making oxygen on the planet’s surface. The result: he survives as the atmosphere of Mars is terraformed.

Something similar has been happening since April 20, 2021 on the surface of Mars that has made this science fiction a reality. Except this time the aliens terraforming Mars by making oxygen on it, are humans from Earth.

What began on that day is not as big as it sounds. It is bigger. A little lunchbox-sized device on the Perseverance rover called MOXIE (Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment), has been making tiny quantities of oxygen, enough that – as Michael Hecht, a planetary scientist at MIT’s Haystack Observatory told Marina Koren of The Atlantic “A small dog would be just fine..”

Science fiction 2.0 which began about 200 years ago (Sci-fi 1.0 is religion) has fantasized humans establishing colonies on different planets – particularly Mars since that’s the brightest in our night sky, and transforming it enough to make it habitable. But it is only this year that this fantasy has taken its first tiny step toward reality.

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Making Oxygen on Farting Spaceships

Oxygen is a non-negotiable must have for almost every lifeform we know in the universe so far. Because the earth’s gravity traps gasses in the surface and trees produce a ton of it, Oxygen on Earth is not a big problem. But space is a different beast altogether.

Ever wondered how the International Space Station – ISS – makes its oxygen? It’s a miracle of science and recycling. Water is converted into hydrogen and oxygen using electrolysis. This water comes from all kinds: wastewater, sweat, and even urine. As astronaut, Col. Douglas H. Wheelock famously explained recycling water in space as, “Yesterday’s coffee is tomorrow’s coffee”.

The oxygen produced by electrolysis of this water is breathed in. The hydrogen is combined with carbon dioxide that humans breathe out to produce water and methane. The water is put into circulation while the methane is thrown out of the ship using special vents. It’s like spaceships farting.

Thus, any human or animal going on a long journey to Mars will have to carry enough water to turn to oxygen for six months. This could be done either on the ship they are traveling on or special fast-moving unmanned supply spaceships like the Russian Progress or American Dragons that could follow behind.

But once they reach Mars, they have to use the resources available on its surface to make more oxygen: be it turning the carbon dioxide on its surface like the MOXIE is doing or the water on it. This will also be necessary for humans to have a chance of making it back to earth because the hydrogen and methane could be mixed with other elements to make rocket fuel.

MOXIE’s BIRTH CHART
• Role: To produce oxygen from the Martian carbon-dioxide atmosphere
• Location: Inside the Perseverance rover (front, right side)
• Mass: 17.1 kilograms
• Weight: 37.7 pounds on Earth, 14.14 pounds on Mars
• Power: 300 Watts
• Volume: 9.4 x 9.4 x 12.2 inches (23.9 x 23.9 x 30.9 centimeters)
• Oxygen Production Rate: Up to 10 grams per hour (At least 0.022 pounds per hour)
• Operation Time: Approximately one hour of oxygen (O2) production per experiment, enough for a dog

Thus, MOXIE is fulfilling a crucial human need in space exploration. It is also figuring out the time it can make the most oxygen. Mars’ atmosphere thins and thickens based on the time of day and weather. MOXIE has found the best time and weather to make oxygen there is the middle of day and middle of summer.

But even beyond that, just the symbolic nature of it is tremendous. This is the first-time humans anywhere have made oxygen on a surface except Earth. Chinese scientists have found that the Moon’s soil contains active compounds that can convert carbon dioxide into oxygen and fuels. What we are doing in Mars, is the first time anything resembling the idea of terraforming a planet has even been tried.

Making Mars Habitable

There are already thousands of scientists in different projects across the world using 3D printers and materials available on Mars to build human habitations. Others are tinkering with making oxygen factories on Mars. One team devised a method of making oxygen from carbon dioxide with the help of plasma. Still others are trying to figure out how to use Mars’ ice deposits for the same purpose.

Future missions could mine the planet’s ice and purify it for daily use and use the residual hydrogen to fuel their crafts. Even the ‘farts’ i.e methane, is a rocket propellant and can be used to refuel an ascent vehicle. A lot of these work can be done even before the first humans have landed on the planet. 3D printing robots with artificial intelligence will build human habitations and these oxygen factories will keep it ready for humans.

Just like on ISS, if we have the slightest chance of making it to Mars, we will not only have to become the best recyclers ever but also have to invent a ton of stuff like, many of which are already happening.

We are living in the age of science fiction rapidly turning into everyday reality. Things we never thought possible are within realms of possibility and more importantly, things we thought could take decades, are taking years, sometimes months, often even less. It is hence no longer a question of if humans will ever go to Mars as it was just a few decades ago. The question now is when.

In the film The Martian, the protagonist – unlike in Total Recall – is a scientist who becomes the first human to grow plants on Mars using its soil and nutrients from his own excreta. The strangest thing is that within two decades of the film, it is likely to become a reality. And one day so will many things we saw in Total Recall: especially – if MOXIE has its way – terraforming.

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