The milestone, which the MOXIE instrument reached by converting carbon dioxide into oxygen, points the way to future human exploration of the Red Planet.
The growing list of ‘firsts’ for Perseverance, NASA’s latest six-wheeled robot on the Martian surface, includes the conversion of the Red Planet’s thin, carbon dioxide-rich atmosphere into oxygen. A toaster-sized test tool aboard the Perseverance called the Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Resource Utilization Experiment (MOXIE) performed the task. The test took place on April 20, the 60th March Day, or sol, since the mission landed on February 18.
While the technology demonstration has just begun, it could pave the way for scientific fact to become scientific facts – to isolate and store oxygen on Mars to help rockets that can lift astronauts off the planet. Such devices can also make astronauts breathe one day. MOXIE is an exploration technology survey – similar to the Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer (MEDA) weather station – and is sponsored by NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) and the Mission Exploration and Operations Directorate.
“This is a critical first step in the conversion of carbon dioxide in Mars to oxygen,” said Jim Reuter, co-administrator of STMD. ‘MOXIE has more work to do, but the results of this technology demonstration are full of promise as we reach our goal of seeing people on Mars one day. Oxygen is not just the stuff we breathe. Rocket dust depends on oxygen, and future explorers will depend on drifting on Mars to make the journey home. ”
For rockets or astronauts, oxygen is the most important, said MOXIE chief investigator Michael Hecht of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Haystack Observatory.
After a warm-up period of two hours, MOXIE started producing oxygen at 6 grams per hour. It was reduced twice during the run (labeled ‘current sweeps’) to determine the status of the instrument. After an hour of operation, the total oxygen produced was about 5.4 grams, enough to keep an astronaut healthy for about ten minutes of normal activity.
Credit: MIT Haystack Observatory
To burn its fuel, a rocket must have more oxygen per weight. To get four astronauts off the Martian surface on a future mission, about 7 tons of rocket fuel and 25,000 tons of oxygen would be needed. In contrast, astronauts living and working on Mars need much less oxygen to breathe. “The astronauts who spend a year on the surface will probably use one ton between them,” Hecht said.
Transporting 25 tons of oxygen from Earth to Mars is a difficult task. Transporting a ton of oxygen converter – a larger, more powerful descendant of MOXIE that can deliver that 25 ton – would be much cheaper and more practical.
Mars’ atmosphere is 96% carbon dioxide. MOXIE works by separating oxygen atoms from carbon dioxide molecules, which consist of one carbon atom and two oxygen atoms. A waste product, carbon monoxide, is released into the Martian atmosphere.
The conversion process requires high heat levels to reach a temperature of about 1,470 degrees Fahrenheit (800 Celsius). To accommodate this, the MOXIE unit is manufactured with heat-tolerant materials. These include 3D-printed nickel alloy components that heat and cool the gases flowing through it, and a light airgel that helps retain heat. A thin gold layer on the outside of MOXIE reflects infrared heat, preventing it from radiating to the outside and damaging other parts of permeability.
Illustration of the MOXIE instrument depicting the elements in the instrument. Credits: NASA / JPL
In this first operation, the oxygen production of MOXIE was quite modest – about 5 grams, which is equivalent to about 10 minutes of breathing oxygen for an astronaut. MOXIE is designed to generate up to 10 grams of oxygen per hour.
This technology demonstration is designed to ensure that the instrument survives the launch from Earth, a journey of nearly seven months through deep space and the touch of Perseverance on February 18th. MOXIE is expected to extract oxygen at least nine more times during a Martian year (almost two years on Earth).
These runs for oxygen production will be in three phases. In the first phase, the function of the instrument is checked and characterized, while the second phase will run the instrument in different atmospheric conditions, such as different times of the day and seasons. In the third phase, Hecht said, ‘We will print the envelope’ – to try new ways of working, or ‘set up new wrinkles, like a run where we compare operations at three or more different temperatures.’
“MOXIE is not just the first instrument to produce oxygen in another world,” said Trudy Kortes, director of technology demonstrations at STMD. It is the first technology of its kind that can help future missions live off the land, using elements from another world environment, also known as in situ resource utilization.
‘It’s taking regolith, the substance you find on the ground, and placing it through a processing plant, making it into a large structure, or taking carbon dioxide – the bulk of the atmosphere – and turning it into oxygen to call, ‘she said. “With this process, we can turn these abundant materials into useful things: propellant, air that breathes, or, combined with hydrogen, water.”
More about perseverance
An important goal of Perseverance’s mission to Mars is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize the geology and climate of the planet, pave the way for the exploration of the Red Planet by humans, and be the first mission to collect Mars rock and regolith (broken rock and dust) and place them in the closet. .
Subsequent NASA missions, in collaboration with ESA (European Space Agency), would send spacecraft to Mars to collect these sealed samples from the surface and return to Earth for in-depth analysis.
The Mars 2020 transit mission is part of NASA’s exploration approach from Moon to Mars, which includes Artemis missions to the moon that will help prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet.
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, run by Caltech in Pasadena, California, for NASA, built and operated the perseverance rover.
For more information on perseverance:
https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/
and
https://www.nasa.gov/perseverance
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