The MIT-led Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment, or MOXIE, has been successfully making oxygen from the MARS carbon-dioxide-rich atmosphere since February 2021.
- MOXIE touched down on the Martian surface as part of NASA’s Perseverance rover mission.
Key Points
- Oxygen, of course, is crucial for a human mission to Mars. Since February 2021, the device has run seven times, each time producing about 0.2 ounces (6 grams) of oxygen per hour. That’s on par with the abilities of small trees here on Earth.
- MOXIE’s oxygen production on Mars also represents the first demonstration of in-situ resource utilization, which is the idea of harvesting and using a planet’s materials.
- MOXIE can reliably and efficiently convert Mars’ atmosphere into pure oxygen.
- It does so by first drawing the Martian air in through a filter that cleans it of contaminants.
- The air is then pressurized, and sent through the Solid OXide Electrolyzer (SOXE) instrument, that electrochemically splits the carbon dioxide-rich air into oxygen ions and carbon monoxide.
- The oxygen ions are then isolated and recombined to form breathable, molecular oxygen, or O2, which MOXIE then measures for quantity and purity before releasing it harmlessly back into the air, along with carbon monoxide and other atmospheric gases.
(Source: Science Daily)
