As humans, we rely on the abundant plant life on Earth to produce the oxygen we need to breathe. However, when we venture beyond our planet, such as on the International Space Station or the Moon, we need to find alternative ways to produce this life-giving gas.
Luckily, scientists are currently developing devices that mimic the process of photosynthesis in plants to turn sunlight and water into oxygen. A recent study sponsored by the European Space Agency (ESA) has shown that these devices will work on the Moon and even on Mars.
Unlike current methods that require electricity, these artificial photosynthesis devices use semiconductor materials coated with metallic catalysts to produce oxygen from water and sunlight, inspired by the process in plants. This means that future astronauts could breathe fresh oxygen on exploration missions without relying on external power sources.
“More efficient and environmentally-friendly ways to recreate parts of the life-giving conditions of Earth’s atmosphere – using resources at hand – is promising to fine-tune our goal of creating a complete ecosystem in a box,” says Brigitte Lamaze, ESA environmental control and life support engineer.
The research team has even calculated that artificial photosynthesis would work on Mars, where sunlight is less intense due to its distance from the Sun. Simple solar mirrors could improve the process and lead to higher oxygen production yields.
While several years of research are still necessary before this technology can be used in space, the insights gained from designing and fabricating these devices could help us meet the green energy challenge on Earth and become a key part in realizing our sustainability goals both on Earth and beyond. This ongoing project is being funded by the Discovery element of ESA’s Basic Activities, originally proposed through the Open Space Innovation Platform (OSIP) in response to a call for ideas on sustainable hydrogen production technologies.
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