Superoxides for Oxygen Farming on the Moon and Mars

upstart writes:

Superoxides for Oxygen Farming on the Moon and Mars:

The dusty faces of the Moon and Mars conceal unseen hazards for future explorers. Areas of highly oxidizing material could be sufficiently reactive that they would produce chemical burns on astronauts' unprotected skin or lungs. Taking inspiration from a pioneering search for Martian life, a Greek team is developing a device to detect these 'reactive oxygen species' - as well as harvest sufficient oxygen from them to keep astronauts breathing indefinitely.

The US Viking landers that touched down on Mars in 1976 carried experiments looking for Martian life whose results are still debated more than four decades later.

Viking's 'Labeled Release' experiment applied micro-nutrient liquid to a Martian soil sample, which released copious amounts of oxygen in response. Some authorities interpreted this result as evidence of microbial life on Mars - except that even after the sample was sterilized with 160C heat this oxygen production continued. Meanwhile other Viking experiments found no traces of organic chemicals.

"The leading interpretation today is that the results were due to an abiotic chemical reaction," notes Prof. Elias Chatzitheodoridis of the Geological Sciences Department of the National Technical University of Athens.

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