Solid oxide oxygen generator on the 2001 Mars surveyor mission

A solid oxide electrolyzer is manifested to fly on a Mars spacecraft that NASA will launch in April 2001. The electrolyzer experiment, called the Oxygen Generator System (OGS) will electrolyze the predominantly CO2 atmosphere of Mars to produce oxygen. The OGS is intended to be a proof-of-concept experiment for NASA's plan to use Mars atmosphere as a resource for producing propellants and life support consumables on future Mars missions, It will be the first time that nonterrestrial resources are used to produce consumables of use to humans, thereby making OGS a landmark experiment. A solid oxide electrolyzer with a yttria stabilized zirconia electrolyte will dissociate CO2 to CO and O on the cathode side of the cell and provide a pure O-2 stream on the anode side through ionic pumping. The primary focus of this paper is to describe the design methodologies used to make the electrolyzer flight worthy.