How did Mark Watney manufacture oxygen in The Martian?

The oxygen level throughout the movie remained at 20%. Why?

Answer

He had a machine called an oxygenator in the Hab. Throughout the book, a lot happens with this machine and it is the reason he has to cut a hole in the top of one of the Rovers to carry it. He brings it with him to the lander (Ares IV) site which explains the oxygen during that long drive and there.

It should be noted that the book focuses a lot on the fact that if you breathe in a sealed environment, you will die of carbon dioxide poisoning long before you can deplete the oxygen. Removal of CO₂, therefore, is more important on the whole.

He has a large but limited amount of disposable filters which can trap CO₂, and greatly extend the amount of time he can breathe a limited quantity of air. It doesn't replenish oxygen though so he still needs to get oxygen from somewhere.

The oxygenator works by cooling air to very low temperatures and decent pressure. It then separates gases based on their condensation/sublimation temperatures. This is how compressed gases are produced and is probably the most effective way to do it in bulk.

In real-life there are also filtration systems which can separate gasses as gasses (this is often used for putting N₂ in bags of chips for example). On the ISS, they perform electrolysis to separate water into oxygen and hydrogen but that would make no sense on Mars as he has very limited water supplies.

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