Researchers have published the first detailed study of metal production on another planet. 

An Australian team is looking at ways to turn Martian air, dirt and sunlight into iron. Their proposed process uses concentrated solar energy as a heat source and carbon, which is produced by the cooling of CO gas – which is a by-product of oxygen production in the Mars atmosphere.

Launching technology into space is expensive, time-consuming, and bad for the environment, but producing resources from other planets allows for more efficient, cheaper, and more sustainable development in space.

This in turn allows for greater human exploration and extension of technology, like satellites, that help gather data and solve problems back on Earth.

Researchers from Swinburne University’s Fluid and Process Dynamics Research Group and Space Technology and Industry Institute are currently working with CSIRO Minerals and the CSIRO Space Technology Future Science Platform to find new ways of making things in space. 

“We would like to develop a metal extraction process on Mars that is truly utilising in-situ resources – without bringing reactants from Earth – to support further human mission and development on Mars,” says Swinburne lead researcher, Professor Akbar Rhamdhani. 

“If you wanted to build something large on Mars without having to pay to launch everything from Earth (think large satellites, mars colonies, refuelling depots and more), this could be a very valuable process.”

Swinburne Director of the Space Technology and Industry Institute, Professor Alan Duffy says Australia “is committed to supporting NASA’s Return to the Moon and going beyond to Mars in Project Artemis, and they will require the use of the resources of the Moon and Mars to make that feasible”:.

“We are using Swinburne’s expertise and industry partnerships in resource extraction and processing to help make NASA’s vision of astronauts walking on the red planet that little bit easier. This work is one small step for metal processing that can make a giant leap for humanity building off-world.”

More details are accessible here.