Could Magnets Be Key to Filtering Oxygen for Astronauts in Deep Space?
A new discovery shows magnets can attract oxygen from liquid in zero-gravity
Hiya!
Exploring outer space is incredibly difficult and rife with obstacles. After all, above the ozone layer of our planet is an entirely alien environment without gravity or oxygen. Let alone the fact that there’s no AAA in space, if something goes wrong, the astronauts are largely on their own. Still, our species figured out, and achieved, landing on the Moon.
We also constructed the International Space Station where astronauts live while orbiting the Earth. But even with such remarkable accomplishments, our technology isn’t good enough for deep space exploration. Now, though, brilliant minds may have figured out how to create oxygen for astronauts in deep space using something far less technical, yet more powerful than the clunky machines currently in use — magnets.
The Problem
There are many, many challenges to space exploration, and one of the biggies is the lack of oxygen in outer space. The technology we’re using right now works decently well for astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS) or trips to the moon. But further exploration into deeper space will require a lighter, more efficient system.
Food still needs to be delivered to the ISS, but it’s completely self-sufficient in creating enough water and oxygen for the astronauts. Aboard the ISS are two devices, the first is called Water Reclamation System (WRS), which filters out water from urine, humidity, and condensation. The second is the Oxygen Generation System (OGS) which splits the water into oxygen and hydrogen molecules during an electrolysis process.
These systems were introduced in 2000, but in 2016, NASA’s Ames Research Center released a study stating the WRS and OGS systems are too heavy and complicated and “would not be sufficient to make it suitable for Mars.” It recommends a lighter, easier to manage, and more reliable technique.
Now, six years later, a team of scientists and researchers from CU Boulder, the University of Warwick, and Freie Universität Berlin published a paper in NPJ Microgravity that suggests magnets could be the solution we need.
The Solution
To understand their discovery, we gotta address some physics. See, thanks to gravity on Earth, gas bubbles in a liquid rise to the top because they’re light, while the heavier liquid sinks to the bottom — think of the carbonation in a soda or seltzer.
But this doesn’t occur in space because there’s no gravity, so bubbles stay suspended within the fluid. Currently, the WRS and OGS systems aboard the ISS (tired of the acronyms?) complete this task.
However, the new research presents an alternative solution — magnets. Using the Bremen Drop Tower at the Center for Applied Space Technology and Microgravity in Germany, the team demonstrated that ordinary magnets can attract or repel gas bubbles suspended in a liquid while in microgravity, like outer space.
The lead author of the study and a recent Ph.D. graduate from the University of Colorado Boulder, Romero-Calvo, explained that magnets could remove most gases from liquids the way the current, heavier, and more energy-consuming machines on the ISS depend on. In an article by the University of Colorado Boulder, he states that by using magnets,
“You don’t need power. You don’t need centrifuges. Instead, it is a completely passive system.”
In the article, Calvo also reports that people who’d been working at the drop tower for decades, who “genuinely know everything about space engineering,” somehow never realized this was possible.
The international team’s discovery has the potential to change everything, but more research is needed. For instance, while magnets may work, experts still need to design and create the system to use them. In the meantime, NASA’s Perseverance rover is equipped with a toaster-sized box in its torso called MOXIE, which extracts oxygen molecules from the carbon dioxide in Mars’ atmosphere.
MOXIE proves the task is possible, however, it only produces about 10 grams of oxygen per hour. If one person consumes about 2,000 gallons (over 7,500 liters) of air daily, that’s approximately 7,575,000 grams. So it would take roughly 86 years for MOXIE to create enough oxygen to sustain one person for one day. So either we need a lot more MOXIEs churning away on Mars, or we need a more efficient system, perhaps using the new magnet discovery.
Perspective Shift
Using magnets to attract gas bubbles from a liquid is so simple it just might work. Have you ever noticed that before? Based on personal experiences and observations, the simplest idea is often the best one. We, humans, have a habit of over-complicating things when the best advice, tools, and systems are often incredibly simple.
It amazes me that we don’t totally understand how magnetism works, yet we can use it to create oxygen for deep-er space exploration. What other uses or secrets could magnets have? How much-untapped potential do they contain?
Just as a reminder, you’re currently reading my free newsletter Curious Adventure. If you’re itching for more, you’ll probably enjoy my other newsletter, Curious Life, which you’ve already received sneak peeks of on Monday mornings.
Any payments go toward helping me pay my bills so I can continue doing what I love — ethically following my curiosities and sharing what I learn with you.
You can find more of my writing on Medium. If you’re not a member but want to be, click here to sign up! Doing so allows you to read mine and thousands of other indie writers to your heart’s content.
Lastly, if you enjoy my work and want to show me support, you can donate to my Ko-fi page, where you can also commission me to investigate a curiosity of your own! Thank you for reading. I appreciate you.
