What’s the point of this testing?
Humans still need oxygen even if you mix it with argon, neon, krypton or xenon.
I was wondering that myself.
It is possible that the use of such a dense gas would reduce atmospheric loss through leakage, or by its use less gas would be needed to replace gases that do leak out.
It is interesting, though.
Carrying enough oxygen along for such a trip would be difficult enough but to carry all the other gasses we normally breathe would compound the problem. Any vehicle used to transport people to Mars will have to have some sort of electrolosis set-up. There IS oxygen on Mars, just not enough to support human life. It can be concentrated, perhaps by breaking down the water in the ice-cap, and mixed with the native argon to give the explorers something to breathe while they’re there.
Right, oldfart is correct, IMO; it’s a weight reduction measure. You can carry all the air the crew will need for two years, or you can try to “live off the land,” so to speak.
We have oxygen generators. That’s no problem. And Mars also has oxygen locked up on the surface that we can get to. But you don’t want the astronauts to breathe pure oxygen for two years, so what do you mix it with to make a safe artificial air substitute?
Mars is nitrogen poor, which is the main component in Earth’s atmosphere. So what do you do? I guess you could carry all your nitrogen with you, or you could try to find a substitute. Turns out, Mars has lots of argon and argon looks pretty harmless.
Problem is, nobody’s ever tried breathing a 60% argon mixture for two years straight. What would it do to a person? I’d hate to be the guinea pig. I hope they’ve done some animal testing...