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Egyptian engineer builds robot that could create water on Mars

By KTVU staff
Published  September 6, 2021 11:13am PDT
Science
KTVU FOX 2

Robot could create drinkable water on Mars

An Egyptian engineer has built a robot that captures humidity and compresses to create filtered drinking water.

OAKLAND, Calif. - Human life could eventually be sustained on Mars thanks to an invention by an Egyptian engineer. 

Robot ELU, built by Mahmoud Elkoumy, creates drinkable water by capturing humid air, compressing, and putting it through a five-step filtration.

The National News reports Elkoumy built the robot to function in similar weather conditions to that of the red planet – high levels of humidity, but dry.

Engineers say the robot's process could also end up solving water issues here on Earth.

"The cost of generating water from air is relatively lower than other technologies," said Elkoumy. 

ELU was about $250 to build. It costs about two cents for ELU to create a quart of water, which is ten times cheaper than any other current technology, including well digging and river extensions.