MOXIE

MOXIE

Subject: Science & tech

Context: Recently, NASA has announced that a device aboard the rover under Perseverance Mission was able to produce oxygen from the thin Martian atmosphere for the first time.

Concept:

Production of oxygen by Perseverance Mission

• The Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment (MOXIE) produced 5 grams of oxygen from carbon dioxide in the Martian atmosphere, enough for an astronaut to breathe for 10 minutes.
• On Mars, carbon dioxide makes up ~96% of the gas in the planet’s atmosphere while the Oxygen is only 0.13%, compared to 21% in Earth’s atmosphere.
• It is similar to a tree on Earth i.e. MOXIE inhales carbon dioxide and exhales oxygen.
• MOXIE separates oxygen atoms from carbon dioxide molecules in order to produce oxygen.
• It does so by using heat at a temperature of around 800 degrees Celsius, and in the process also produces carbon monoxide as a waste product, which it releases in the Martian atmosphere.