Chemistry

Chemistry is the science of turning Mars from a barren world into a usable one. Chemists study matter and its transformations, and on Mars that knowledge becomes the key to survival: extracting breathable oxygen from the atmosphere, producing rocket fuel from local resources, purifying water, and understanding the reactive soil that colonists will have to work with. Living off the Martian land is, at its core, a chemistry problem.

Recent missions have shown how directly this applies. The MOXIE experiment demonstrated that oxygen can be chemically extracted from the carbon-dioxide atmosphere, a breakthrough for both breathing and propulsion. Chemists also study the perchlorate salts that make Martian soil toxic and complicate agriculture, and they develop the processes — such as reactions that combine Martian resources into fuel and water — that would let a colony sustain itself. Analytical chemistry also underpins the search for organic molecules that might hint at past life.

Programs in chemistry cover organic, inorganic, physical, and analytical chemistry. Graduates work on resource utilization, life support, and the analytical science that both sustains explorers and probes the chemistry of the planet itself.