Chemistry: Robotic chemist creates oxygen from Martian meteorite | Synthesis of nature

One research paper suggests that an oxygen-producing material has been created from a Martian meteorite using robotic artificial intelligence (AI) chemists.Synthesis of naturePublished in The study proves the concept of oxygen production and could have implications for future human missions to Mars.

Oxygen is used in rocket propellants and life support systems, and is essential for human activities on Mars. Therefore, future manned missions to Mars will require oxygen production. One way to make these missions more cost-effective and simpler in the long term is to generate oxygen using resources already on Mars, rather than transporting it from Earth. New evidence of water on Mars and analysis of the elemental composition of Martian meteorites could provide an opportunity to synthesize catalysts using Martian resources.

Jun Jiang and his colleagues have now developed an artificial intelligence robotic chemist that can manufacture an oxygen-generating catalyst from Martian materials without human intervention. Jiang and his colleagues selected five types of meteorites that originated from Mars or were confirmed to exist on Mars and analyzed them using an AI-powered robotic chemist. AI chemists have been able to convert meteorites into chemical compounds, synthesize catalysts from these compounds, and then examine their ability to produce oxygen. The robot repeated this process until it found the best stimulus. It has been suggested that this work would take 2,000 years if done by humans. Next, Jiang and his colleagues showed that the catalyst could operate under simulated Martian conditions.

An AI-powered robotic chemist was able to use Martian meteorites to automate the synthesis of catalysts, a discovery that could lead to ways humans could produce oxygen on Mars in the future, Jiang and his colleagues say.

doi:10.1038/s44160-023-00424-1

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