NASA’s Perseverance rover has successfully completed an experiment designed to create oxygen on Mars, using a technique that could one day provide astronauts with breathable air, and be used as a key ingredient in rocket fuel for a return journey home.
Humanity is looking to expand deeper into the solar system, first by establishing a permanent base on the Moon, before finally placing human boots on Mars for the first time in our species’ short history. For this to be a reality, both NASA and its partners need to develop new technologies that will make use of the natural resources of those distant worlds to ensure that future missions are as self reliant as possible.
One major problem faced by astronauts visiting Mars is ensuring they have a ready supply of breathable air. Oxygen on Earth is relatively abundant, making up roughly 21 percent of our planet’s atmosphere. However, the gasseous shell enveloping Mars is composed of less than one percent oxygen, and 96 percent carbon dioxide, with nitrogen, argon, and other myriad trace gases making up the remainder.
✅ It’s mission accomplished for my MOXIE instrument!
— NASA's Perseverance Mars Rover (@NASAPersevere) September 7, 2023
I brought this device to test making oxygen from Mars’ CO2 atmosphere, and it worked great. This tech could pave the way for future explorers to make their own rocket fuel and breathable air. ?
More: https://t.co/BR2GqQtWDs pic.twitter.com/okFg8YyUvy
Enter NASA’s Perseverance rover, which touched down in the Jezero Crater on Mars In 2021 carrying with it a tech demo called the Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment, or MOXIE, for short. MOXIE is a microwave-sized instrument that uses a device called an electrolyzer to split carbon dioxide particles harvested from the Martian atmosphere into pure oxygen, and waste products such as carbon monoxide.
The tech demo has been running intermittently since soon after the rover made landfall in 2021, and recently finished its 16th and final run early last month. MOXIE was able to create oxygen at a rate of around 12 grams per hour, and has now generated a grand total of 122 grams of the precious gas.
The amount created, which is roughly the amount a small dog breathes in 10 hours, according to NASA, was twice as abundant as what the scientists were originally aiming for, and had a purity of at least 98 percent. Besides being breathable, the oxygen could also be used as a key ingrediant in the creation of rocket fuel, without which astronauts would either be stranded on the Red Planet indefinitely, or be forced to wait for a resupply from Earth.
“MOXIE’s impressive performance shows that it is feasible to extract oxygen from Mars’ atmosphere – oxygen that could help supply breathable air or rocket propellant to future astronauts,” explained NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy. “Developing technologies that let us use resources on the Moon and Mars is critical to build a long-term lunar presence, create a robust lunar economy, and allow us to support an initial human exploration campaign to Mars.”
NASA estimates astronauts will need around 25 to 30 tons of oxygen in order to create the fuel needed to launch from the surface of the Red Planet on a return journey to Earth. Because of this, a much larger version of MOXIE will be needed to serve a future Mars mission, alongside a host of other technologies that will be developed and tested on Earth, and the Moon in the coming decades.
Anthony is a freelance contributor covering science and video gaming news for IGN. He has over eight years experience of covering breaking developments in multiple scientific fields and absolutely no time for your shenanigans. Follow him on Twitter @BeardConGamer
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
