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NASA’s mobile robot “Perseverance” has achieved a new achievement on the surface of Mars, successfully converting carbon dioxide from the Red Planet’s atmosphere into oxygen, a precedent for a planet other than Earth, according to what the agency announced yesterday.
“This is a very important first attempt to convert carbon dioxide into oxygen on Mars,” said Jim Reuter, a NASA official.
The attempt was made on April 20, and NASA hopes that future versions of the experimental tool used for this purpose will pave the way for humans to explore the Red Planet.
The importance of this tool is not limited to the fact that it allows the production of oxygen for future astronauts, but also replaces the loading of large amounts of oxygen used to propel the rocket on its return flight from Earth. .
The device, nicknamed “Moxy” (English initials for experimenting with the use of the oxygen resources of Mars in situ), is a gold box the size of a car battery, and is mounted to the right of the front. of the vehicle.
The device uses electricity and chemistry to separate carbon dioxide molecules and produce oxygen on one side and carbon monoxide on the other.
In his first experiment, Moxy produced five grams of oxygen, enough to breathe for ten minutes for an astronaut who was engaged in normal activity.
The engineers responsible for “Moxi” will carry out further tests and try to increase this result, noting that the tool is designed to be able to generate up to ten grams of oxygen per hour.
The device was designed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and is made of heat-resistant materials, to be able to withstand the temperature required to operate it of 800 degrees Celsius.
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