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Written by: Nick Gambino
The persistence of the NASA March Rover has been a big week. First, he scored a big win on Monday when he observed Ingenuity’s first helicopter flight over the surface of the Red Planet.
Well, agility only goes up 10 feet above the surface for 40 seconds and then goes down, but that’s still historic and the first time we’ve shot us from the surface of Mars. Getting into flight is the first big step towards being able to explore Mars even further.
MiMi Aung, Creative Project Manager, said after watching Screenshot From captivity to travel with persistence.
The next day, Persistence marked another milestone when it succeeded in converting Mars’ carbon dioxide atmosphere into oxygen using the onboard MOXIE. This would allow human life to breathe on Mars without relying solely on the oxygen they brought from Earth. It will also help create momentum for anyone looking to return to our home planet.
“This is an important first step in converting carbon dioxide to oxygen on the surface of Mars,” said Jim Reuter, associate director for NASA’s Space Technology Mission, in a report. Statement issued. “MOXIE has a lot more work to do, but the results of this technical experiment are full of promise as we move toward our goal of seeing humans on Mars one day. Oxygen isn’t the only thing we breathe. Rocket fuel depends on oxygen, and future explorers will rely on it. “Propellant production on Mars for the return journey.”
After two hours of warming up, persistence begins to produce breathable oxygen. This takes about an hour and once done the explorer has 5.4 grams of oxygen. This is enough to keep a person breathing for up to 10 minutes.
This is just a preliminary test. MOXIE is capable of producing up to 10 grams of oxygen in one hour. They’re going to run about 8 more tests over the next two years, and they’re likely to see a maximum of 10 at some point.
Launching four astronauts from the surface of Mars somewhere in the stadium would require 25,000 pounds of oxygen. It’s a long road but you have to start somewhere.
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