While the ultimate goal of perseverance is to look for signs of ancient life on Mars, this did not stop the rover from doing other scientific work. On April 20, Perseverance successfully removed carbon dioxide from the planet’s atmosphere and turned it into oxygen, NASA announced on Wednesday. Along with a family portrait of its robotic brothers, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory equipped the rover with an instrument called the Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment or MOXIE.
NASA / JPL-Caltech
The toaster-sized instrument allowed Perseverance to separate oxygen atoms from carbon dioxide molecules by heating the gas to about 1,470 degrees Fahrenheit and creating carbon monoxide as a by-product. During the first test of the instrument, it produced about five grams of oxygen or about enough to give a lone astronaut about 10 minutes of breathable air in their suit. According to NASA, the success of the experiment paves the way for future missions, especially those involving human astronauts, as both humans and the rockets that will transport them to and from the Red Planet need oxygen to function. According to NASA, a single rocket carrying four astronauts will need about 55,000 kilograms of oxygen to get off the ground. It is not feasible to carry so much oxygen to Mars. There future versions of technology can help explore the viable planet.
The successful experiment follows another historic premiere for Perseverance and NASA. Earlier this week, the agency flew an aircraft to another planet when it completed the first test flight of the Ingenuity Mars helicopter. Like MOXIE, ingenuity is primarily proof of the concept, but it opens the door for future aircraft to explore the Red Planet.
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