GODMOTHER Rover of perseverance has just launched another first on Mars, one that could help pave the way for astronauts to explore the Red Planet one day.
The rover successfully used its MOXIE instrument to generate oxygen from the thin substance, dominated by carbon dioxide Martian atmosphere for the first time, demonstrating a technology that could help both astronauts breathe and propel missiles that bring them home to Earth.
The MOXIE landmark took place on Tuesday (April 20th), just one day after Perseverance first followed another epic Martian – the first flight to Mars of NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter, which rode to the Red Planet belly of the rover.
“This is a critical first step in transforming carbon dioxide into oxygen on Mars,” said Jim Reuter, associate director of NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate. he said in a statement today (April 21). “MOXIE has more work to do, but the results of this technology demonstration are full of promise as we move toward our goal of one day seeing people on Mars.”
In photos: NASA Rover Perseverance mission to Mars on the Red Planet
Making oxygen on Mars
MOXIE the size of a toaster (short for “Mars Oxygen Resource Use Experiment”) produces oxygen from carbon dioxide, expelling carbon monoxide as a waste product. The conversion process takes place at temperatures of about 1,470 degrees Fahrenheit (800 degrees Celsius), so MOXIE is made of heat-tolerant materials and has a thin layer of gold to keep potentially harmful heat from radiating outward into the body of Perseverance.
The MOXIE team heated the instrument for two hours yesterday, then removed the oxygen for an hour. MOXIE produced 5.4 grams of oxygen during this period, about enough to keep an astronaut breathing lightly for 10 minutes, NASA officials said.
The first effort did not surpass MOXIE; can generate about 10 grams of oxygen per hour. The instrument can eventually reach such levels, as the team intends to make nine more flights during a year on Mars (approximately 687 days on Earth).
These studies will be grouped into three phases, NASA officials said. The first phase is the verification and characterization of the instrument, and the second will evaluate the performance of MOXIE in various atmospheric conditions. In the third and final phase, “we will push the envelope,” MOXIE chief investigator Michael Hecht said in a statement.
Pushing the envelope will likely involve testing new modes of operation or adding “new wrinkles, such as a race that compares operations at three or more different temperatures,” added Hecht, who is at the Institute of Technology’s Haystack Observatory. from Massachusetts.
MOXIE and the future of humanity on Mars
MOXIE itself cannot produce enough oxygen to make a difference for future exploration efforts. For example, launching four astronauts from the Martian surface would probably require about 15,000 lbs. (7,000 kilograms) of rocket fuel and 55,000 lbs. (25,000 kg) of oxygen, NASA officials said. (The rocket propellant consists of fuel and an oxidant that helps it burn.)
But MOXIE’s much larger successors could have great potential for exploration, allowing astronauts on Mars to “lives on earth“Rather than relying on an expensive and less frequent supply from Earth, agency officials said.
Perseverance reached inside the 28-mile-wide (18-kilometer) Jezero Crater on Feb. 18, tasked with hunting the signs of the old Life on Mars and collecting evidence for future return to Earth. The rover will be able to focus fully on those core jobs in about two weeks, when Ingenuity’s one-month flight window closes.
And MOXIE will continue to do its job in the background, occasionally pumping small puffs of carbon monoxide into the dusty air of Mars to animate the considerable work of the six-wheeled robot.
Mike Wall is the author of “There“(Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate), a book about the search for extraterrestrial life. Follow him on Twitter @michaeldwall. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom or Facebook.