NASA Perseverance Mars Mission: Back in February, NASA had effectively landed the Perseverance rover on the surface of Mars, and considering the fact that then, the space agency has been adding new feathers to its cap. Its Ingenuity Mars Helicopter became the initial spacecraft in history to undertake a controlled flight on a different planet, and so far, the helicopter has completed not just one but two controlled flights effectively, with the second one becoming more difficult than the initial. Now, the US space agency has announced that a device fitted on Perseverance was in a position to generate oxygen with the aid of the thin atmosphere of the Red Planet, a different feat that has been carried out for the initial time ever.
The scientific neighborhood has been left overjoyed at this achievement, mainly because this technologies has the prospective to help future crewed missions as the astronauts would be in a position to breathe in outer space and then return to the Earth, according to a report in IE.
Production of oxygen on Mars
The MOXIE or Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment carried out its initial operation on April 20, and throughout the operation, it was in a position to use carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of Mars to generate 5 grams of oxygen, which is enough to assistance an astronaut for 10 minutes. The report added that about 96% of the Martian atmosphere is produced of carbon dioxide, whilst oxygen is only about .13%, a stark contrast to the 21% of Earth’s atmosphere.
The MOXIE acts a lot like a tree, taking in carbon dioxide and providing off oxygen. For this, it separates the atoms of oxygen from carbon dioxide molecules, the report mentioned. This is performed at a temperature of a whopping 800 degrees Celsius, and throughout the approach, carbon monoxide is also developed. This gas is released into the atmosphere of the Red Planet.
The Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment has been created to generate up to 10 grams of oxygen in an hour, and its initial effective run was meant to demonstrate that it had survived the launch from Earth and the landing on Mars. Now, in the coming two years, MOXIE would most likely generate oxygen nine more instances. However, it should be kept in thoughts that MOXIE is merely a demonstration of the technologies, and in order to sustain human missions, the actual device would have to be about one hundred instances its size.
Importance of the operation
This operation is significant mainly because enough oxygen on Mars can help future crewed missions to the Red Planet, as the oxygen would not only aid astronauts breathe but also serve as fuel for the rockets to take off from the neighboring planet and return to the Earth.
The space agency mentioned that in future, for a mission of 4 astronauts to take off of the Martian surface, 7 metric tons of rocket fuel and 25 metric tons of oxygen would be necessary. On the contrary, astronauts working on the Red Planet would only need about one metric ton of oxygen. Carrying 25 metric tons of oxygen for a return journey from Mars to Earth would be a humongous job, scientists say, which is why it would be less complicated if liquefied oxygen have been to somehow develop into offered on Mars. And this is exactly where MOXIE’s part becomes significant.