Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • RESEARCH HIGHLIGHT

How salt water on Mars could give astronauts a breather

Water locked away in Martian sediments could be split into the gases needed by humans and their machines.
An artist's rendering of the Mars Ice Home concept.

Crews living on Mars (artist’s impression) could survive on oxygen extracted from the salty water that permeates some of the planet’s soils. Credit: NASA/Clouds AO/SEArch

A device that uses electricity to decompose water could be used to transform brines on Mars into a supply of hydrogen fuel and life-supporting oxygen.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Nature 588, 199 (2020)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-03430-x

References

Subjects

Latest on:

Nature Careers

Jobs

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing

Search

Advanced search

Quick links