Harnessing high-density pulsed plasma for sustained oxygen supply on Mars

• Pulsed non-equilibrium MPD arc sustains a strongly bimodal EEDF in CO 2 at Martian pressures. • Primary high-energy electrons (Te ≈ 13 eV, n e ≈ 10 21 m −3 ) drive direct dissociation (74 % O 2 yield) • Secondary low-energy population (Te ≈ 5 eV) provides complementary vibrational excitation (26 %) • Self-field Lorentz acceleration and short pulse (∼350 µs) suppress recombination. • Dual-channel mechanism yields 49 Wh/g efficiency and projected 137 g O 2 /hour production rate. A pulsed, non-equilibrium, high-density arc (magnetoplasma-dynamic type) exploits a bimodal electron energy distribution function (EEDF) to dissociate CO 2 under Martian pressures (1–5 Torr). The discharge sustains two distinct electron populations: a primary high-energy tail (T e ≈ 13 eV, n e ≈ 10 21 m −3 ) driving direct dissociation (∼74 % of O 2 yield via Franck–Condon splitting), and a secondary cooler population (T e ≈ 5 eV) enabling vibrational excitation (∼26 % via ladder climbing to auto-dissociative states). Within the studied voltage range (1–2 kV), the coaxial gun achieves maximum oxygen yield per input energy at 2 kV (0.03 g per 10 pulses, 3.0 × 10 −5 g/J) and peak energy efficiency at 1 kV (49 ± 7.35 Wh/g). In a repetitive, high-intensity regime with rapid capacitor charging, a production rate of 137 ± 13.7 g/hour is projected. This dual-channel physics enables efficient, low-temperature CO 2 splitting, making it highly suitable for scalable ISRU oxygen production on Mars.