The Perseverance rover has just made oxygen on Mars

Something that can efficiently convert that carbon dioxide into oxygen could help in several ways. In the future, bigger and better versions of something like MOXIE could convert and store the oxygen needed for rocket fuel, as well as provide breathing air life support systems.

The instrument works by dividing carbon dioxide molecules, which consist of one carbon atom and two oxygen atoms. It separates oxygen molecules and emits carbon monoxide as waste.

Heat tolerant materials, such as a gold and airgel coating, were used to fabricate the instrument because this conversion process requires temperatures as high as 1470 degrees Fahrenheit. These materials prevent heat from radiating out and damaging any aspect of the rover.

“This is a critical first step in converting carbon dioxide into oxygen on Mars,” Jim Reuter, associate administrator of NASA’s Space Technology Missions Directorate, said in a statement.

“MOXIE still has work to do, but the results of this technology demonstration hold great promise as we move towards our goal of someday seeing humans on Mars. Oxygen is not just what we breathe. The rocket thruster depends on oxygen, and future explorers will depend on the production of the thruster on Mars to get home. “

In order to launch four astronauts from the surface of Mars, approximately 15,000 pounds of rocket fuel and 55,000 pounds of oxygen would be needed. Living on the surface of Mars, space explorers would consume much less.

“Astronauts who spend a year on the surface may use a metric ton between them,” Michael Hecht, principal investigator for MOXIE at the Haystack Observatory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said in a statement.

Carrying so much oxygen from Earth to Mars would be incredibly difficult and expensive, and would mean less space on the spacecraft for other necessities.

However, an oxygen converter weighing about 1 ton – a large and powerful future generation of MOXIE – could produce the required oxygen.

For future testing, MOXIE will likely generate up to 10 grams of oxygen per hour. The instrument will perform approximately nine more tests over the next two years, and the research team will use the data to design future generations of MOXIEs.

Just like the goals set for the Ingenuity helicopter, which is also a technology demonstration, the objective is to MOXIE to push the limits of the instrument.

In the first phase, the team will assess the operation of the instrument. A second phase will test MOXIE under different conditions, such as time of day or varying seasons. And during the third and final phase, “we’ll push the boundaries” – trying new ways of operating, or introducing “new rides, like a race where we compare operations at three or more different temperatures,” Hecht said. .

Technology like MOXIE could help future astronauts make a living primarily off the earth and use resources in their environment.

“MOXIE is not just the first instrument to produce oxygen on another world,” Trudy Kortes, director of technology demonstrations at NASA’s Space Technology Missions Directorate, said in a statement.

“It takes regolith, the substance you find on the ground, and passes it through a processing plant, turning it into a large structure, or taking carbon dioxide – most of the atmosphere – and by converting it into oxygen. This process converts these abundant materials into usable things: propellant, breathing air, or, combined with hydrogen, water. “

The positive results of this first test bring the missions to Mars closer to the landing of humans on the red planet.