- Jonathan Amos
- BBC science journalist
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Image source, NASA/JPL-CALTECH
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Moxie is a tool in NASA’s robot explorer that can process carbon dioxide into oxygen.
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The rover robot belonging to the United States Space Agency (NASA) on Mars, Perseverance, is able to “make oxygen” from the carbon dioxide on the planet.
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The oxygen-making process is carried out in a toaster-sized device called a Moxie.
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It is a device inherent in Perseverance, which harnesses resources on Mars to generate oxygen.
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Moxie creates five grams of oxygen. ,
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This much oxygen allows astronauts to breathe on Mars for about 10 minutes.
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NASA hopes that astronauts will be able to carry an oxygen-generating device larger than Moxie’s on assignment to Mars.
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The goal, astronauts do not need to carry oxygen from Earth to survive on the red planet.
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Oxygen is also an important part of the chemical mechanism that drives rockets.
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The thrust is achieved by burning the fuel in the oxidizer, which can be simple oxygen.
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Image source, NASA
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The rover Perseverance robot lands on Mars in mid-February 2021.
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The atmosphere of Mars is dominated by carbon dioxide at a concentration of 96%. On that planet, oxygen is only 0.13%. For comparison, the total oxygen concentration on Earth reaches 21%.
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Moxie is able to release oxygen atoms from carbon dioxide molecules consisting of one carbon atom and two oxygen atoms.
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The two-component waste product is carbon monoxide, which is discharged into the Martian atmosphere.
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The NASA research team operated Moxie in various modes to determine its effectiveness.
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They are targeting Moxie to produce up to 10 grams of oxygen in one hour.
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“Moxie is not only the first instrument to produce oxygen on another planet,” said Trudy Kortes, director of proving technology affairs at NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate.
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“But Moxie is also the first technology that will support astronauts on future space missions to survive utilizing local environmental elements, known as resource exploitation. in-situ, “said Kortes.
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“Moxie takes the unsolved layer on Mars, a substance you find in soil, then processes it into large structures or takes carbon dioxide and converts it to oxygen.
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