A better question: If the soil is acidic then doesn't that mean that H and O or H2O could be easily freed from the soil by mixing it with a base such as Sodium Bicarbonate?
Could such a process occur naturally as the martian wind mixes alkali and acidic soils from different regions of mars together? Does water need to be present in liquid form to act as a catalyst? Its been years since I took a chemistry lesson...Am I getting the lessons mixed up?
If I'm not, then could such a process be used to manufacture O2 and H2O on the surface of Mars?
Scott Evil