Development of an Electrostatic Precipitator to Remove Martian Atmospheric Dust From ISRU Gas Intakes During Planetary Exploration Missions

Manned exploration missions to Mars will need dependable in situ resource utilization (ISRU) for oxygen production. The Martian atmosphere is composed of 95.3% CO2, other gases, and 0.13% O2 at ~ 9 mbar (1% of the Earth's pressure). However, it also contains 2-10- μm dust uploaded by dust devils and high winds. Oxygen extraction requires removal of the dust with little pressure drop (Δp). An electrostatic precipitator (ESP) has lower Δp than a filter, but the low pressure causes an electrical breakdown at electric fields ( ~ 1 kV/cm) ~ 30× lower than on Earth, making implementation challenging. Molecular mean free paths (λ = 4 μm) and ion mobility values (b = 0.008 m 2 /V·s) are ~ 100× larger than at Earth's pressure (λ = 44 nm) and (b = 8.4 ×10 -5 ). The large λ lowers Stokes drag, particularly for smaller particles. Pauthenier field charging dominates for particles with and diffusion charging for d