12-05-2021 | 13:58 PM
Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment (MOXIE)
• NASA has announced that the Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment (MOXIE) aboard the Perseverance rover was able to produce oxygen from the thin Martian atmosphere for the first time.
• MOXIE produced 5 grams of oxygen from carbon dioxide, enough for an astronaut to breathe for 10 minutes on Mars. It is designed to generate up to 10 grams of oxygen per hour.
Key Points:
• A technology demonstrator, MOXIE is designed to generate up to 10 grams of oxygen per hour and is placed inside the Perseverance rover.
• It is the size of a car battery, weighing 37.7 pounds (17.1 kg) on Earth, but just 14.14 pounds (6.41 kg) on Mars.
• Over the next two years, MOXIE is expected to extract oxygen nine more times.
• MOXIE was designed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
• It was built with nickel-alloy. The alloy is heat-resistant and is designated to tolerate temperatures of 1,470 degrees Fahrenheit.
Note: Perseverance landed on Mars on February 18, 2021. It carried the Ingenuity helicopter. The helicopter recently made its successful flight. This was the first flight to another planet.
