Perseverance Rover Uses MOXIE To Produce Oxygen On Mars

Big things are happening on Mars. On Tuesday, the Perseverance Rover turned carbon dioxide into oxygen using it’s MOXIE instrument. MOXIE is short for Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment.  MOXIE successfully produced 5.4 grams of oxygen which is enough to sustain an astronaut for around 10 minutes. The MOXIE instrument is the size of a toaster and works by dividing up carbon dioxide molecules, separating out the oxygen and emitting carbon monoxide as a waste product. Gold and aerogel were used to make the instrument.

In a statement, Associate Administrator for NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate Jim Reuter said “this is a critical first step at converting carbon dioxide to oxygen on Mars.” He added “MOXIE has more work to do, but the results from this technology demonstration are full of promise as we move toward our goal of one day seeing humans on Mars. Oxygen isn’t just the stuff we breathe as rocket propellant depends on oxygen, and future explorers will depend on producing propellant on Mars to make the trip home.”