Microgravity experiments could help future space missions source oxygen

New research on generating oxygen from water found on the surfaces of other planets could help support future long-term missions to the Moon and Mars. Researchers from the University of Glasgow and colleagues took a series of gruelling flights into microgravity to study how the different gravitational pull of other planets could affect the process of electrolysis. Electrolysis uses electric current, passed through two electrodes, to split water into its constituent gases - hydrogen and oxygen. Oxygen is vital to space missions to allow astronauts to breathe and to refuel their rockets. Currently, space missions carry all the oxygen they require with them in bulky tanks. However, as plans to establish permanent bases on the Moon and Mars gather pace, space scientists are proposing to find sources of oxygen instead in the form of ice, which may be present on both planetary surfaces. Electrolysing the melted ice could free missions from the need to carry all of their own oxygen, and help proposed long-term habitations like NASA's Artemis lunar station become self-sustaining.