This work discusses the potential of combining non-thermal plasmas and conducting membranes for in situ resource utilization (ISRU) on Mars. By converting different molecules directly from the Martian atmosphere, plasmas can create the necessary feed-stock and base chemicals for processing fuels, breathing oxygen, building materials, and fertilizers. Different plasma sources operate according to different principles and are associated with distinct dominant physicochemical mechanisms. This diversity allows exploring different energy transfer pathways leading to CO${}_2$ dissociation, including direct electron-impact processes, plasma chemistry mediated by vibrationally and electronically excited states, and thermally driven dissociation. The coupling of plasmas with membranes is still a technology under development, but a synergistic effect between plasma decomposition and oxygen permeation across conducting membranes is anticipated. The emerging technology is versatile, scalable, and has the potential to deliver high rates of production of molecules per kilogram of instrumentation sent to space. Therefore, it will likely play a very relevant role in future ISRU strategies.

This work analyzes the temporal evolution of the electron kinetics in dry-air plasmas (80% N₂: 20% O₂), excited by electric-field pulses with typical rise-times of 10⁻⁹ and 10⁻⁶ s, applied to a stationary neutral gaseous background at pressures of 10⁵, 133 Pa and temperature of 300 K. The study is based on the solution of the electron Boltzmann equation (EBE), adopting either (i) a time-dependent formulation that considers an intrinsic time evolution for the electron energy distribution function (EEDF), assuming the classical two-term expansion and a space-independent exponential temporal growth of the electron density; or (ii) a quasi-stationary approach, where the time-independent form of the EBE is solved for different values of the reduced electric-field over the duration of the pulse. The EBE was solved using the LisbOn KInetics Boltzmann solver (LoKI-B), whose original capabilities were extended to accept time-dependent non-oscillatory electric fields as input data. The role of electron–electron collisions, under specific conditions, is also reported and discussed. The simulations show that the quasi-stationary approach gives solutions similar to the time-dependent formulation for rise-times longer than the characteristic evolution time of the EEDF, i.e. 20 ns at 10⁵ Pa and 20 μs at 133 Pa, meaning that a quasi-stationary description is possible in a high-collisionality situation and long rise-times (e.g. microsecond pulses at atmospheric pressure), failing for faster rise-times (e.g. nanosecond pulses for both pressures considered here).