Is life on Mars possible? This is a question people have been asking themselves for many years. The main reason why there is no life on Mars is the lack of usable water, which is essential for life. All water present on Mars is ice or saline. You can’t drink salty water, and the usual method using electricity (electrolysis) to break it down into oxygen (to breathe) and hydrogen (for fuel) requires removing the salt — a cumbersome, costly endeavor in a harsh, dangerous environment. If oxygen and hydrogen could be directly coerced out of briny water, however, that brine electrolysis process would be much less complicated — and less expensive.
Fortunately, engineers at the McKelvey School of Engineering (MCE) at Washington University in St. Louis invented an application that can solve this problem. The system could help astronauts to produce some necessities, including water and fuel, which is necessary to live (even temporarily) on Mars and to return to Earth. Speaking of this new invention, Vijay Ramani, head of the research team of MCE, says: “Our novel brine electrolyser incorporates a lead ruthenate pyrochlore anode developed by our team in conjunctionwith platinum on carbon cathode. These carefully designed components, coupled with the optimal use of traditional electrochemical engineering principles, has 
yielded this high performance”. Thanks to its design, the system can operate without the need to heat or treat the water source. Moreover, the system was tested in a simulated Martian atmosphere at -33 ⁰F (-36⁰C) and did well. Shrihari Sankarasubramanian, a research scientist in Ramani’s group says: “Paradoxically, the dissolved perchlorate in the water, so-called impurities, actually help in an environment like that of Mars. They prevent the water from freezing and also improve the performance of the electrolyser system by lowering the electrical resistance”.
Usage on Earth
The brine electrolysis system can also be successfully used on Earth. It can use brackish or salty water, for example from the oceans, to produce hydrogen and oxygen. Such applications can be useful in the field of defense, for example in creating oxygen on demand in submarines. It can also provide oxygen, as researchers explore unexplored environments closer to home, in the deep sea.
This system is a real game-changing technology that can facilitate research on Mars and perhaps in the future will enable life there, which humanity hopes very much for.
sources:
https://source.wustl.edu/2020/11/new-tech-can-get-oxygen-fuel-from-mars-salty-water/