Northumbria research will see men on mars

Northumbria University boffins are working on energy plant plans for the Red Planet based on the very scientific sounding phenonemon, the Leidenfrost effect.

The research by the Geordie scientists is hoping to pave way for the time when living on Mars is the only place to be seen.

Thanks to research engineered at Northumbria, future inhabitants of the red planet will be able to use technology to get energy from carbon dioxide. The technique has been proven for the first time at the Uni, in collaboration with researchers at Edinburgh University.

The research looks into building an engine that’ll produce energy based on the Leidenfrost effect, which occurs when a liquid gets too close to a surface much hotter than its boiling point. Think of your hangover fry up – when that water hits the pan and makes that HSSSST noise.

It also applies to dry ice – found in cocktails in Jalou near Central Station if you wish to further educate yourselves. Blocks of dry ice are able to levitate above hot surfaces, protected by a barrier of evaporated gas vapour.

Northumbria’s research proposes using the vapour created by this effect to power an engine – the first time the Leidenfrost effect has been adapted as a way of harvesting energy.

Secret technology weapon

This idea means that working in alien environments (pun completely intended) will become increasingly realistic. By turning what is normally considered a waste product into naturally occurring renewable energy.

If Northumbria brain boxes can pull this off, all this talk of missions to Mars won’t have to be a one way ticket to black-hole-ville.

Evidence from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter suggests dry ice may, conveniently, be a naturally-occurring resource on Mars. If the information and technology can be transferred to a Leidenfrost engine, lumps of dry ice could be the starting point of future power stations on Mars.

Dry ice, the clever little minx.

One of the co-authors of Northumbria’s research, Dr Rodrigo Ledesma-Aguilar, said: “Carbon dioxide plays a similar role on Mars as water does on Earth.

“It is a widely available resource which undergoes cyclic phase changes under the natural Martian temperature variations.

“Perhaps future power stations on Mars will exploit such a resource to harvest energy as dry ice blocks evaporate, or to channel the chemical energy extracted from other carbon-based sources, such as methane gas.

“One thing is certain, our future on other planets depends on our ability to adapt our knowledge to the constraints imposed by strange worlds, and to devise creative ways to exploit natural resources that do not naturally occur on Earth.”

It quickly dawned on the researching team at Northumbria that one of the biggest challenges will be finding new ways to harvest and create energy, especially in crazy Mars based environments.

Totes the place to be living by 2040

Dr Gary Wells, co-author of the paper, said: “The working principle of a Leidenfrost-based engine is quite distinct from steam-based heat engines.

“The high-pressure vapour layer creates freely rotating rotors whose energy is converted into power without the need of a bearing, thus conferring the new engine with low-friction properties.”

The low-friction nature of this engine could have other exciting applications, according to executive dean for engineering and environment, Professor Glen McHale.

Prof McHale, who also worked on the new research, said: “This is the starting point of an exciting avenue of research in smart materials engineering.

“In the future, Leidenfrost-based devices could find applications in wide ranging fields, spanning from frictionless transport to outer space exploration.”