NASA's Perseverance rover has logged another extraterrestrial first on its latest mission to Mars: converting carbon dioxide from the Martian atmosphere into pure, breathable oxygen.
"This is a critical first step at converting carbon dioxide to oxygen on Mars," said Jim Reuter, associate administrator for NASA.
According to AFP, the technology demonstration took place on April 20, and NASA hopes future versions of the used experimental instrument could pave the way for future human Martian explorations.
Not only can the process produce oxygen for future astronauts to breathe, but it could make hauling vast amounts of oxygen over from Earth to use as rocket propellant for the return journey unnecessary. The instrument, dubbed MOXIE (short for Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment), is a golden box the size of a car battery, and is located inside the front right side of the rover.
It uses electricity and chemistry to split carbon dioxide molecules, to produce oxygen and carbon monoxide. In its first run, MOXIE produced 5 grams of oxygen, equivalent to about 10 minutes of breathable oxygen for an astronaut carrying out normal activity.
MOXIE's engineers will now run more tests and try to step up its output. It is designed to be able to generate up to 10 grams of oxygen per hour. Designed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MOXIE was built with heat-resistant materials and designed to tolerate the searing temperatures of 800 Celsius required for it to run. A thin gold coating ensures it doesn't radiate its heat and harm the rover.
MIT engineer Michael Hecht said a one-ton version of MOXIE (the currently used instrument weighs 17 kg) could produce the approximately 25 tons of oxygen needed for a rocket to blast off from Mars.
Producing oxygen from Mars' 96 percent carbon dioxide atmosphere might be a more feasible option than extracting ice from under its surface then electrolyzing it to make oxygen. Perseverance landed on the Red Planet on February 18 on a mission to search for signs for past life.
