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Experiments have been conducted to determine the effectiveness of using an RF glow-discharge to increase oxygen yield from Mars atmosphere at moderate operating temperatures. Based on the tests reported here, an RF glow-discharge requires significantly less electrical power than a DC glow-discharge, while operating at lower temperatures. A brief discussion of how this approach can be combined with in situ resource utilization (ISRU) systems employing stabilized Zirconia membranes has also been presented.

A glow-discharge can be sustained in ambient Mars atmosphere, resulting in the dissociation of carbon dioxide molecules into carbon monoxide and oxygen. If the glow-discharge zone is maintained adjacent to a silver permeation membrane, atomic oxygen, produced by the discharge, can be separated from the other species. Experiments have been conducted to determine the behavior of glow-discharge enhanced oxygen production over a range of temperatures at Mars ambient pressure, in order to assess this approach as a possible low-temperature alternative to mechanical filtration, collection, compression and heating of Mars atmosphere with subsequent electrochemical separation.

This paper describes a prototype expert system being developed for maintaining autonomous operation of a Mars oxygen production system. System and sensor failure modes and their corresponding symptoms are identified. For a set of operating condition definitions, a knowledge-based diagnostic algorithm is developed to handle several housekeeping functions. These functions include self-health checkout; an emergency shutdown program; failure detection and isolation and active control commands. Finally, a computer simulation using BASIC language has demonstrated the feasibility of the expert system and verifies its rule-based diagnosis and decision making algorithms.