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"I long ago realized that I could reach far more people by writing something, than by walking down the street with a banner."
- John Brunner

Oxygen Fountain  
  A small factory for making oxygen on the Martian surface.  

Making oxygen is the trick. Cracking water - hydrolysis - is comparatively easy; CO2 and oxidized dust take more energy and time. That's why we need fountains. Fountains are big, often the size of a semi cab... They plop down on the Red and if the dust is deep enough - if they're not on impenetrable hardpan - they burrow in and almost immediately pop out solar collectors and extraction vanes and whirl the vanes to collect moisture from the air.
Technovelgy from War Dogs, by Greg Bear.
Published by Orbit in 2014
Additional resources -

Compare to vaporators from Star Wars (1976) by George Lucas.

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Additional resources:
  More Ideas and Technology from War Dogs
  More Ideas and Technology by Greg Bear
  Tech news articles related to War Dogs
  Tech news articles related to works by Greg Bear

Oxygen Fountain-related news articles:
  - NASA Wants To Make Oxygen On Mars
  - NASA MOXIE Extracts Oxygen From Mars' Air

Articles related to Space Tech
The New Habitable Zones Include Asimov's Ribbon Worlds
Will Space Stations Have Large Interior Spaces Again?
Reflect Orbital Offers 'Sunlight on Demand' And Light Pollution
Chrysalis Generation Ship to Alpha Centauri

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Science Fiction in the News

The New Habitable Zones Include Asimov's Ribbon Worlds
'...there's a narrow belt where the climate is moderate.'

Can One Robot Do Many Tasks?
'... with the Master-operator all you have to do is push one! A remarkable achievement!'

Atlas Robot Makes Uncomfortable Movements
'Not like me. A T-1000, advanced prototype. A mimetic poly-alloy. Liquid metal.'

Boring Company Drills Asimov's Single Vehicle Tunnels
'It was riddled with holes that were the mouths of tunnels.'

Humanoid Robots Tickle The Ivories
'The massive feet working the pedals, arms and hands flashing and glinting...'

A Remarkable Coincidence
'There is a philosophical problem of some difficulty here...'

Cortex 1 - Today A Warehouse, Tomorrow A Calculator Planet
'There were cubic miles of it, and it glistened like a silvery Christmas tree...'

Perching Ambush Drones
'On the chest of drawers something was perched.'

Leader-Follower Autonomous Vehicle Technology
'Jason had been guiding the caravan of cars as usual...'

Golf Ball Test Robot Wears Them Out
"The robot solemnly hit a ball against the wall, picked it up and teed it, hit it again, over and again...'

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