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NASA announced on February 18 that the probe Perseveranse, which sent 60 days off to Mars, has succeeded in generating oxygen from Mars’ atmosphere.
It is a Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment (MOXIE) equipment the size of a toaster that produced oxygen. It separates the Mars atmosphere, where 96% is carbon dioxide, into oxygen and carbon monoxide. In the future, the improved device may play an important role in providing a means for astronauts on Mars to obtain oxygen locally.
Jim Reuters, deputy director of NASA’s space technology mission, said that MOXIE is an important first step toward converting carbon dioxide into oxygen on Mars. In addition, it is necessary for rocket-propelled fuel combustion, so the future spacecraft will use oxygen generated from Mars to return to Earth.
According to NASA, the propellant needs five times the weight of oxygen to propel the rocket. On the other hand, if an astronaut is living on Mars, it doesn’t need as much oxygen, and it only takes about 1 ton per year.
However, temperatures as high as 800 degrees Celsius are required to remove oxygen from carbon dioxide. Therefore, MOXIE has a high-grade heat-resistant structure. MOXIE can produce up to 10g oxygen per hour. This is the amount an astronaut can breathe for about 20 minutes. Perseverance is expected to generate oxygen at least nine times in the next year on Mars.
NASA explains that MOXIE technology not only makes rocket propellants and astronaut breathing oxygen from Mars’ atmosphere, but also converts the finished oxygen and hydrogen into water by reacting it. In addition, NASA also successfully flew its first aircraft Ingenuity to Mars a while ago. Both Ingenuity and MOXIE are still in the proof-of-concept stage, but they are the skills needed for astronauts to walk on Mars someday. Related information can be found here.
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