NASA’s Perseverance Rover Has Turned Mars’ CO2 Into Oxygen For Future Travel
Image via NASA
NASA’s Perseverance Rover has become the first instrument to produce oxygen on another planet. Just this week, the Ingenuity helicopter attached to the Perseverance Rover made its maiden flight on Mars.
Now, a toaster-sized instrument on the rover has managed to turn carbon dioxide into oxygen. According to Futurism, this groundbreaking event could lead to a future where space travelers can generate their own oxygen to breathe while on Mars.
The equipment, named the Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment (MOXIE for short), is a technology demonstration. It’s hopeful that this new technology could be scaled up for wider use. It could also eventually be used to create rocket propellant, which depends on oxygen, to propel future explorers off the surface of the Red Planet.
Image via NASA
“MOXIE has more work to do, but the results from this technology demonstration are full of promise as we move toward our goal of one day seeing humans on Mars,” said Jim Reuter, associate administrator of NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD).
To convert the carbon dioxide into oxygen, MOXIE heated up the gas to an estimated 1,470°F. It managed to produce five grams of oxygen, which translates to about 10 minutes’ worth of breathable oxygen for us. Now, researchers hope to have MOXIE try new operating modes or attempt to extract oxygen at varying temperatures.
Other than being the first instrument to produce oxygen on another planet, MOXIE is also “the first to lay the groundwork for future missions that could make use of in-situ resources,” said Trudy Kortes, director of technology demonstrations within the Directorate.
[via Futurism, images via various sources]
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