Breathing apparatus on Mars

ad101867 wrote:

> Hi, all. The novel I'm working is set on a partially terraformed
> Mars. The atmosphere is thickened and warmed, but is still
> predominantly CO2. I was going to have characters using rebreathers,
> but then realized that rebreathers include their own oxygen. Would
> it be plausible to have them use an apparatus that doesn't carry its
> own oxygen but simply processes the atmospheric gas and scrubs the
> carbon from it?

If you mean CO2 -> C + O2 then not plausible. That takes quite a
bit of energy; and off-hand there's no way to supply that other
than batteries or nuclear; both of which are going to be heavy.

I'm pretty sure it would be lighter to carry around O2 cylinders

> Thanks,
> Andy
>

--
- Ian Woollard (ian.woollard@...)

"Is a planetary surface the right place for an expanding
technological civilization?"
- Gerard O'Neill