Producing oxygen from rock is harder in lower gravity, modeling study shows

One of many challenges engineers face when creating applied sciences to be used in space is that of various gravities. Principally, engineers solely have entry to check beds that replicate both Earth’s regular gravity or, in the event that they’re lucky, the microgravity of the ISS. Designing and testing methods for the decreased, however not negligible, gravity on the moon and Mars is way more tough. However for some methods, it’s important.

One such system is electrolysis, the method by which explorers will make oxygen for astronauts to breathe on a everlasting moon or Mars base, in addition to crucial substances like hydrogen for rocket gas. To assist steer the event of methods that can work in these circumstances, a crew of researchers led by computational physicist Dr. Paul Burke of the Johns Hopkins College Utilized Physics Laboratory determined to show to a favourite instrument of scientists in all places: fashions.

Earlier than we discover the mannequin, inspecting the issue they’re attempting to unravel is useful. Electrolysis immerses an electrode in a liquid and makes use of {an electrical} present and subsequent chemical response to separate atoms aside. So, for instance, when you put an electrode in water, it might separate that water into hydrogen and oxygen.

The issue comes from decreased gravity. As a part of electrolysis, bubbles kind on the floor of the electrode. On Earth, these bubbles sometimes detach and float to the floor, because the density distinction between them and the remaining liquid forces them to.

Nonetheless, in decreased gravity, the bubbles both take for much longer to detach or do not accomplish that in any respect. This creates a buffer layer alongside the electrode’s size that decreases the electrolysis course of’s effectivity, typically stalling it out totally. Electrolysis is not the one fluidic course of that has issue working in decreased gravity environments—many ISS experiments even have bother. That is partly resulting from a scarcity of full understanding of how liquids function in these environments—and that in itself is partly pushed by a dearth of experimental knowledge.

Which is the place the modeling is available in. Dr. Burke and his colleagues use a method referred to as Computational Fluid Dynamics to aim to imitate the forces the fluids will bear in a decreased gravity surroundings whereas additionally understanding bubble formation.

Electrolysis on Earth is often completed with water, however why cease there? The crew used their CFD to mannequin two different liquids that may be utilized in electrolyzers—molten salt (MSE) and molten regolith (MRE). The analysis is published within the journal Frontiers in Area Applied sciences.

Molten salt is used on Earth, however much less generally than common water, and has efficiently produced oxygen. Nonetheless, molten regolith electrolysis continues to be considerably of a novel use case and has but to be totally examined. MOXIE, the experiment that famously created oxygen on Mars in 2021, used the carbon dioxide in Mars’ environment and a solid-state electrode—neither consultant of molten regolith.

Dr. Burke and his crew discovered that, computationally, at the very least, MRE has essentially the most difficult circumstances in decreased gravity. It has additionally by no means been examined in any decreased gravity surroundings, so for now, these simulations are all engineers need to go on with if they will design a system.

There have been a number of key takeaways from the modeling, although. First, engineers ought to design horizontal electrodes into MRE methods, because the longer a bubble spreads throughout an electrode (i.e., because it goes “up” it), the longer it takes for that bubble to detach. In a horizontal configuration, the electrode has much less floor space to connect to, making it extra possible for the bubbles to detach and float to the floor.

Moreover, the period of time bubbles stay connected to an electrode scales exponentially with reducing gravity. Meaning bubbles on the moon will take longer to detach than these on Mars, which can take longer than these on Earth.

Consequently, electrolysis on the moon shall be much less environment friendly than that on Mars, which can once more be much less environment friendly than that on Earth, and mission planners might want to account for these discrepancies in the event that they plan on getting one thing as mission-critical as oxygen from this course of. The smoothness of the electrodes additionally appears to matter, with rougher electrodes extra more likely to maintain onto their bubbles and, due to this fact, find yourself much less environment friendly.

Different engineering options can overcome all these challenges, comparable to a vibratory mechanism on the electrode to shake the bubbles unfastened. Nonetheless, it is a good suggestion to contemplate all the extra issues operations in a decreased gravity surroundings have earlier than launching a mission. That is why modeling is so essential, however humanity will finally need to experimentally take a look at these methods, maybe on the moon itself, if we plan to make the most of its native assets to maintain our presence there.