NASA's lunch box-sized instrument MOXIE successfully makes oxygen on Mars using the Red Planet's res

NASA's lunch box-sized instrument MOXIE successfully makes oxygen on Mars using the Red Planet's resources
Posted 6h ago



In an extraterrestrial first, NASA's instrument converts Martian materials into oxygen.(NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory )


An experiment from NASA has taken a small step towards making Mars habitable for humans.

NASA's instrument, the Mars Oxygen In Situ Resource Utilization Experiment, or MOXIE, has been successful in generating breathable oxygen on Mars using resources found on the Red Planet — a first for the experiment.

The lunch box-sized instrument has produced oxygen from the carbon dioxide in the Martian atmosphere seven times since landing on Mars in February 2021.

So what's new about this demonstration?

MOXIE’s oxygen production on Mars represents the first demonstration of “in-situ resource utilisation".
This is the practice of harvesting and using a planet’s materials to make resources that would otherwise have to be transported from Earth.

More:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-09-01/nasa-moxie-instrument-makes-oxygen-on-mars/101394288