American space agency NASA on Wednesday announced that its oxygen-generating experiment that accompanied the Perseverance rover has successfully completed its mission and generated oxygen on the Red Planet. Developed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), a microwave-oven-sized device called MOXIE (Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilisation Experiment), has generated oxygen for the 16th and final time aboard the Perseverance rover, NASA said in its blog.
"The tech demo successfully tested converting Martian CO2 into oxygen, which could help pave the way for future human missions to Mars," the space agency tweeted.
According to the blog, MOXIE has been generating oxygen aboard the Perseverance rover since its landing in 2021. It has exceeded expectations by producing a total of 122 grams of oxygen, which is twice as much as NASA's original goals for the instrument. The oxygen produced is of 98% purity or better, making it suitable for both fuel and breathing purposes, the space agency said.
"MOXIE's impressive performance demonstrates the feasibility of extracting oxygen from Mars' atmosphere-a potential resource for supplying breathable air or rocket propellant to future astronauts," said NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy in a statement.
"Developing technologies that allow us to utilise resources on the Moon and Mars is critical for building a long-term lunar presence, creating a robust lunar economy, and supporting an initial human exploration campaign to Mars," she added.
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MOXIE works by using an electrochemical process to separate one oxygen atom from each molecule of carbon dioxide in Mars' thin atmosphere. The gases are then analysed to check the purity and quantity of the oxygen produced.
The US space agency said that MOXIE's success now marks a significant step towards future human exploration of the Red Planet. According to NASA, the technology could enable astronauts to 'live off the land', using materials found on the planet's surface to survive. This concept, known as in-situ resource utilization (ISRU), has become a growing area of research.
Now, the next step is to create a full-scale system that includes an oxygen generator like MOXIE and a way to liquefy and store that oxygen, NASA said. However, the agency also added that the focus is also on validating other technologies on Mars.
"MOXIE has clearly served as inspiration to the ISRU community," said the instrument's principal investigator, Michael Hecht of MIT. "It showed NASA is willing to invest in these kinds of future technologies. And it has been a flagship that has influenced the exciting industry of space resources," he added.
