Scientists have figured out how easy it is to organize a mission to Mars by providing astronauts with oxygen and fuel.
Scientists at the Georgia Institute of Technology, USA, said bacteria would make rocket fuel for space travel. They will also produce liquid oxygen to power the ship during its return to Earth.
This is reported by the journal Nature Communications.
The ships, according to the concept, will be equipped with special reactors, which will receive sunlight and carbon dioxide. The reactors will also contain cyanobacteria. They will be the ones who will produce fuel and oxygen.
This process, according to the calculations of the researchers, will be more efficient (32 percent) than building a chemical plant on Mars to produce oxygen.
According to Matthew Realff, one of the authors of the study, it is necessary to check whether cyanobacteria can be grown in the conditions of Mars.
The fact is that the absence of an atmosphere on the Red Planet can disrupt the process, because the effect of ultraviolet radiation on the surface of Mars in such conditions is stronger. A large amount of ultraviolet radiation is harmful to cyanobacteria.
