Page 3 - Spec Tech Vol 1 Issue 03

NASA's Perseverance Mars rover has made

oxygen 7 times in exploration milestone

After landing on the surface of Mars, NASA's
Perseverance rover took its first breath. Or rather,
one of its instruments did.

Led by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
(MIT), the Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource
Utilization Experiment (MOXIE) is a small
instrument on the Perseverance rover that's
designed to transform carbon dioxide, which
comprises some 96% of the atmosphere on Mars,
MOXIE is lowered into the Perseverance rover in into breathable oxygen. Oxygen, of course, is
2019. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech) crucial for a human mission to Mars. Since

February 2021, the device has run seven times, each time producing about 0.2 ounces (6 grams)
of oxygen per hour. That's on par with the abilities of small trees here on Earth.
"This is the first demonstration of actually using resources on the surface of another planetary
body, and transforming them chemically into something that would be useful for a human
mission," MOXIE deputy principal investigator Jeffrey Hoffman, a professor of the practice in
MIT's Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics and a former NASA astronaut, said in a
statement. "It's historic in that sense."

MOXIE has now operated in a variety of conditions on Mars, both day and night, through all four
seasons. The researchers expect that a version of the instrument approximately 100 times larger
than MOXIE could potentially create breathable oxygen for future astronauts who visit the Red
Planet. If explorers can't make their own oxygen on Mars, supplies from Earth would take up
valuable mass on a spacecraft.
Furthermore, MOXIE's products could also be used as an ingredient for rocket fuel — pretty
crucial to ensuring the mission isn't one-way. A rocket would need 33 to 50 tons (30 to 45 metric
tons) of liquid oxygen propellant in order to launch humans off Mars.

"We have learned a tremendous amount that will inform future systems at a larger scale," said
Michael Hecht, principal investigator of the MOXIE mission at MIT's Haystack Observatory.

The team's research was published Aug. 31 in the journal Science Advances.

Place on Mars!

Olympus Mons is the most extreme volcano in the solar system. Located in the
Tharsis volcanic region, it's about the same size as the state of
Arizona, according to NASA. Its height of 16 miles (25 kilometers) makes it
nearly three times the height of Earth's Mount Everest, which is about 5.5 miles
(8.9 km) high.

Olympus Mons is a gigantic shield volcano, which was formed after lava slowly
crawled down its slopes. This means that the mountain is probably easy for
future explorers to climb, as its average slope is only 5 percent. At its summit is NASA/MOLA Science Team/
a spectacular depression some 53 miles (85 km) wide, formed by magma O. de Goursac, Adrian Lark
chambers that lost lava (likely during an eruption) and collapsed.

Space Explorer 2022 3