HOUSTON – Researcher NASA made a small instrument known as the Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment (MOXIE). Later, a device that can produce oxygen will be installed in the NASA Perseverance rover chassis to support the life of astronauts on the red planet.
MOXIE, which is about the size of a bread box and colored gold, can produce oxygen from the poisonous atmosphere of Mar. MOXIE, which will be stored in the Perseverance chassis, will conduct the first demonstration on another planet about what is known as in-situ resource utilization (ISRU). (Read: NASA Explorers Robot Starts to Search for Aliens on Mars)
“NASA had long been interested in ISRU and issued instructions for oxygen-generating experiments when Perseverance was first created,” said Eric Daniel Hinterman, a doctoral student in aerospace engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a member of the MOXIE team, told Live Science .
Oxygen is needed for astronauts and is very important compared to rocket propellants. When combined with hydrogen, oxygen burns in a powerful explosion that is used to lift many modern rockets off their launch pads. (Also read: Prevent Repeating Crime, Recidivists Will Be Installed with a GPS Bracelet)
Apart from propellants, a spacecraft carrying humans to the Red Planet would need between 30,000-45,000 kilograms of oxygen to return to Earth. “We can send that oxygen from Earth to Mars, but if we can make it on Mars it means a lot more,” said Hinterman.
Interman said any additional oxygen generated through ISRU technology could enter the life support systems for astronauts while on the surface of Mars.
Although MOXIE’s first oxygen production is yet to be scheduled, it is expected to occur during the rover’s first months on the Red Planet. “The instrument uses a technology called solid oxygen electrolysis,” said Hinterman. (Also read: Glaciers Continue to Melt, How Does It Affect the Earth?)
MOXIE will not store the oxygen it produces, but only verify that the elements will later release oxygen back into the atmosphere. “This is just a small prototype about 200 times smaller than a similar machine that will be used in future human missions,” he said.
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