Exploring Mars is likely to be the most exciting scientific project of this century. Whenever it happens, it will capture the imagination of adults and children alike. There are just a few hurdles to overcome first! Like getting there… One of the issues explorers will face is the need for natural resources on the red planet, particularly water. Curiosity and the Phoenix Mars Lander indicated that there was water on Mars, frozen into the soil. The current thinking is that instead of transporting vast amounts of water to the planet (infeasible due to space and weight), a device will be used to retrieve the water that is already there.
The Mars Aqua Retrieval System (MARS) is a proof-of-concept for a water-extraction robot developed by the Singapore University of Technology and Design, and Australia’s Gilmour Space Technologies. The Raspberry Pi- and Arduino-powered robot has been designed to travel to a set of co-ordinates, microwave the soil and then collect the water vapour, condensing it back to liquid form. Its current rate of conversion is 4 grams per 4 minutes, so it’s unlikely to go to Mars in its present form, but as a proof-of-concept it works. It was built for a budget of $10,000 and is designed to work in the Martian atmosphere.