In a recently published study, researchers reported that by the end of 2021, MOXIE was able to produce oxygen on Mars during seven different experiments.
It successfully produced oxygen during different atmospheric conditions, such as day and night, and during different seasons of Mars, at different temperatures.
About the MOXI
- MOXIE was sent to Mars with the Perserverance rover.
- Full form of MOXI – ‘Moxie – the Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment’.
- It is a golden box and the size of it is like a car battery. The current version of the equipment is designed to fit on the Perseverance rover hence it has a smaller size.
- It was designed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
- It uses electricity and chemical to split carbon dioxide molecules into carbon and oxygen.
- In the process, it produces carbon monoxide as an additional product.
- Thus MOXIE, like a tree on the Earth, absorbs carbon dioxide and emits oxygen. It is also called “mechanical tree”.
- MOXIE produced 5 grams of oxygen in its first test. This is the equivalent to the amount of oxygen needed for ten minutes breathing for an astronaut doing a normal activity.
- According to MIT scientists, the one-ton version of MOXIE is capable of producing 25 tonnes of oxygen.
Do you know?
In mars, 96% of total gas is carbon dioxide, which is not helpful for humans who depend on oxygen. The atmosphere of Mars is more variable than that of Earth. The density of air fluctuates by 2 degrees and the temperature fluctuates by 100 degrees.
MOXIE would later be able to produce enough oxygen to fuel a rocket for humans to breathe on Mars and to bring astronauts back to Earth.
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