This technology is attractive for space manufacturing applications since reactions can proceed at high rates at room temperature, enabling the use of low-weight, 3D-printable plastic reactors ( Berliner et al., 2021). Water electrolysis with selective catalysts can drive water reduction to H 2 on cathode surfaces. In analogy to the proposed terrestrial “Hydrogen Economy”, molecular hydrogen (H 2) can be used as a platform molecule for energy storage, on-demand power supply, and as a reactant driving CO 2 and N 2 (bio)chemical reduction on Mars ( Marbán and Valdés-Solís, 2007 Chen et al., 2018 Berliner et al., 2021). Efficient conversion of these resources to reduced forms of hydrogen, nitrogen, and carbon would represent an enabling step towards sustaining a permanent human presence in space. Mars has an abundance of in situ resources, including (sub)surface water ice ( Wilson et al., 2018) and carbon and nitrogen in atmospheric CO 2 and N 2 ( Webster et al., 2013).

Long-duration space missions or continuously-occupied extraterrestrial outposts require Earth-independent power and chemical supply. We then quantified power systems, manufacturing, and agricultural demands for a six-person mission, which revealed that photovoltaics-based power generation would require <10 t of carry-along mass, outperforming alternatives over ∼50% of Mars’ surface. This informed detailed balance calculations for solar cell devices that identified optimal bandgap combinations for maximizing production capacity over a Martian year. Climate data were integrated into a radiative transfer model to predict spectrally-resolved solar flux across the Martian surface. Here, we show that photovoltaics-based power systems would be adequate and practical to sustain a crewed outpost for an extended period over a large fraction of the planet’s surface.

8Molecular Biophysics and Integrated Bioimaging Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, United StatesĪ central question surrounding possible human exploration of Mars is whether crewed missions can be supported by available technologies using in situ resources.

7Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, United States.

6Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, United States.

5Climate and Ecosystems Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, United States.

4Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, United States.

3Department of Bioengineering, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, United States.2Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, United States.1Center for the Utilization of Biological Engineering in Space (CUBES), Berkeley, CA, United States.Berliner 1,3 †, Mia Mirkovic 1,4, William D.

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