NASA develops 'MOXIE', a device that generates oxygen from the atmosphere of mars

NASA’s mars oxygen in-situ resource utilization experiment, also known as ‘MOXIE’, is a device developed to generate oxygen from the atmosphere of mars. the device, which is about the size of a car battery, serves as a test instrument installed on the NASA mars 2020 perseverance rover. ‘MOXIE’ is the proof that the technology works on the red planet, and its aim is to support future human missions by converting martian air into oxygen.

engineers lower MOXIE into the belly of NASA’s perseverance rover

all images via NASA/JPL-caltech

‘MOXIE’ by NASA/JPL adopts a tree breathing technique, inhaling carbon dioxide and exhaling oxygen, thus serving as the means to create oxygen on mars. in its first run, ‘MOXIE’ extracted 5.4 grams of oxygen, a small amount enough to keep one astronaut alive for around 10 minutes. carbon dioxide makes up 96% of the gas in mars’ atmosphere, while oxygen is only 0.13%, compared to 21% in the earth’s atmosphere. based on the percentages above, the coming oxygen generators that support human missions on the red planet must be approximately 100 times larger, about the size of a regular household stove.

engineers lower MOXIE into perseverance

creating oxygen on mars will enable human missions on the red planet, and it will also build up the foundation for round-trip missions. ‘what people typically ask me is whether ‘MOXIE’ is being developed so astronauts have something to breathe, but rockets breathe millions of times as much oxygen as people’ says michael hecht, the instrument’s principal investigator. ‘fortunately, the rocket has to breathe only for a few minutes during liftoff. but, even so, it needs about 25 tons of oxygen to do that, while the crew needs only about a ton for the entire mission’.

MOXIE twin during testing

if ‘MOXIE’ is capable of achieving its goal, then future astronauts will rely on its technology which helps them to get home safely.MOXIE shakes it up