Space

Designing a rover to mine for water on Mars

Designing a rover to mine for water on Mars
The rover could soon have a home at a new space museum in Australia
The rover could soon have a home at a new space museum in Australia
View 5 Images
MARS is a prototype for harvest water from the Red Planet's soils
1/5
MARS is a prototype for harvest water from the Red Planet's soils
The proof of concept was designed to work on Earth and withstand 30 percent of the conditions on Mars
2/5
The proof of concept was designed to work on Earth and withstand 30 percent of the conditions on Mars
The rover heats up and releases water frozen in soils using microwaves
3/5
The rover heats up and releases water frozen in soils using microwaves
The prototype was built for less than $10,000
4/5
The prototype was built for less than $10,000
The rover could soon have a home at a new space museum in Australia
5/5
The rover could soon have a home at a new space museum in Australia
View gallery - 5 images

Should we ever want to set up any sort of base or colony on Mars, it's inevitably going to require water to support life, but transporting enough liquids to the Red Planet is likely to be impractical. With NASA and others planning manned Mars missions, a team based in Singapore is already working on a specialized Martian rover that could be used to "mine" for water below the planet's crimson surface.

The Mars Aqua Retrieval System (MARS) is an early prototype of just such a prospecting rover, developed through a collaboration between the Singapore University of Technology and Design, and Australia's Gilmour Space Technologies.

The basic idea is to build upon discoveries made by Curiosity and the Phoenix Mars Lander, among others, that indicate water is present on the Red Planet, either buried in its soil or in non-liquid forms like ice. MARS is designed to extract the water from the soil, collect and store it.

According to detailed documentation of the project provided to Gizmag, various methods were considered for each step of the process, with the final concept involving the use of microwaves and a cold trap to separate and collect the liquid.

Each cycle of the water-collection process involves using a rather basic locomotion system with two powered wheels to move to the target area, then lowering a microwave unit over the ground and using it to heat up the area for 20 minutes. The resulting steam then enters collection pipes leading to a condenser bag where it condenses and drips into a collection box. The whole cycle will seem familiar to anyone who knows anything about the distillation process.

The prototype was built for less than $10,000
The prototype was built for less than $10,000

The team claims its been able to collect water from frozen soil at a rate of four grams per four minutes in tests.

With a meager budget of just US$10,000, the team managed to create a prototype designed to function on Earth using familiar components including Arduino and Raspberry Pi units, but with the ability to also withstand 30 percent of Mars' temperature and pressure conditions.

Gilmour Space CEO Adam Gilmour told Gizmag that details of the MARS design were sent to NASA and the space agency "replied back favorably."

While this particular prototype won't be leaving Earth's atmosphere anytime soon, it may be available for the public to view at a space museum, astronaut training facility and rocket factory that Gilmour is building north of Australia's Gold Coast.

View gallery - 5 images
1 comment
1 comment
Nik
Given the Mars extreme cold temperatures, 'Mining' is correct. [one lump or two?] It would need to be tested in Antarctica, or similar to ascertain whether it functioned effectively. The condensate could just freeze, before collection could happen.