NASA Perseverance Rover ‘Moxie’ Lunch Box Size Instrument ‘Andal produces oxygen in Mars, a new study. Moxie, which stands for Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Equipment, is the first demonstration of the use of in-situ resources in other planets.
The Perseverance Rover, launched as part of the Mars 2020 mission, landed on a red planet in February 2021. About two months after landing on the surface of Mars, Moxie began to produce oxygen from the atmosphere rich in carbon-dioxide red planet. This instrument does a small tree work.
Peer-review studies that describe recent findings published in the journal Science Advances. In this study, scientists reported that, at the end of 2021, Moxie was able to produce oxygen in seven experimental runs, in various atmospheric conditions. Utilization of In-Situ Resources (ISRU) is a term commonly used to describe the harvesting and processing of original resources in other planetary bodies, the word study. The idea behind this technology is to produce resources such as oxygen, which should be transported from the earth. Moxie, who represented the first demonstration of ISRU technology on other planets, has succeeded in producing oxygen from carbon-dioxide, which consists of 95 percent of the mars atmosphere.
Between landing in February 2021 and at the end of 2021, Moxie has produced oxygen seven times. This instrument will continue to show oxygen production during the night and night throughout the MARS season. Moxie which is reduced can produce tens of thousands of oxygen in place. This large amount of oxygen is needed for rockets to transport astronauts from the surface of Mars. By producing tens of thousands of oxygen on the surface of Mars, Moxie will eradicate the need to transport oxygen in large amounts from Earth to red planet.
According to research, Moxie reached its target to produce six grams of oxygen per hour, in each round. This is equivalent to the rate of oxygen production by simple trees on earth. The improved Moxie version can continue to produce oxygen at a speed of several hundred trees. The resulting oxygen will be enough to support humans once they arrive at Mars, and also to trigger rockets to return it to earth. According to the researchers, the stable Moxie oxygen output is the first step that promises to go to the destination.
In a statement issued by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), who led the experiment, Michael Hecht, the main investigator of Moxie’s mission at Mit’s Haystack Observatory, said researchers had studied the extraordinary amount that would inform the systems in the future on a more scale big. The Moxie version is discharged up to several hundred times can produce about two to three kilograms of oxygen per hour.
Deputy Chief Investigation Moxie Jeffrey Hoffman said this was the first demonstration that was truly true to use resources on the surface of another planet’s body, and changed it chemically into something that would be useful for human mission. He called Moxie’s “historic” achievement. Moxie is designed to walk in a short time. The instrument begins and is turned off with each running, depending on the schedule of perseverance and mission responsibilities. This compromise in the Moxie design is needed so that this instrument matches the Rover.
Apart from this compromise, Moxie has shown it can be reliable and efficiently converting carbon-dioxide from the mars atmosphere to pure oxygen. Moxie first tugged in Mars’s air through the filter that cleaned it from contaminants. This is a hepa filter that traps dust (high efficiency particle air). Then, Moxie attacked the atmosphere through a scroll pump, heats it to 800 degrees Celsius, and sends air through assembly, which is known as the electrolysis of solid oxide (SOXE).
In this assembly, carbon-dioxide flows on the cathode (positive electrodes that attract electrons) and decompose into oxygen ions and carbon-monoxide. After this, oxygen ions are isolated. Electrolytes continue oxygen ions to the anode (negative electrodes). Oxygen ions are re -combined to form molecular oxygen that can breathe, or O2. Moxie measures molecular oxygen for quantity and purity before releasing it to the mars atmosphere. According to research, the exhaust released from the cathode is a mixture of carbon-monoxide, carbon-dioxide, and inert atmospheric gas such as argon and nitrogen.
Moxie produced oxygen at different times of the Martian year Since the landing of Rover Perseverance on March in February 2021, Moxie engineers have started the instrument several times throughout the Martian year. Each time, it took the instrument for a few hours to warm up, and another hour to make oxygen before retreating. In order to assess if Moxie could adapt to changes under the atmospheric conditions of March, the engineers programmed each race for a different day or night period and to different seasons. Hoffman said that the atmosphere is much more variable than the earth, and that air density can vary from a two -year factor throughout the year. Martian air temperature can vary from 100 degrees.
Hoffman explained that a goal is to show that Moxie can be managed in all seasons. Until now, the instrument has shown that it can produce oxygen at almost any time of the day and the Martian year. Hecht said the only thing Moxie engineers had not demonstrated was to operate at dawn or twilight, when the temperature changes considerably. He said engineers would first test it in the laboratory, then try to cross the milestone on the red planet.
Why can’t Moxie be executed continuously?
Moxie engineers will also monitor the instrument system for signs of wear. The reason for which Moxie cannot operate continuously as a large -scale system would do is that there are several other experiments on board persistence. Moxie must start and stop with each race. Indeed, the thermal stress can degrade the system over time.
What is the particularity of the latest Moxie race?
Moxie made his 11th race during the top of the Martian winter. This is the moment when cold nights and relatively high atmospheric pressures conspire to produce the highest Martian air density of the year. The more dense air, the more carbon dioxide moxie must work, the more oxygen it can.
Engineers are still extremely careful to design races for the irreplaceable flight model on Mars. However, for the 11th Moxie race, they pushed the envelope a little to briefly produce oxygen at a rate of almost 10.5 grams per hour. If we double this amount, a human being could survive on it. It was a record for Moxie.
What is the next step for Moxie?
Moxie reliably produces oxygen on Mars. Now, engineers are planning to push Moxie’s capacity and increase its production, especially in the Martian spring, according to MIT. Indeed, in the Martian spring, atmospheric density and carbon dioxide levels are high. Hecht said that the next race will be done during the highest density of the year, and MIT engineers just want to do as much oxygen as possible. He added that engineers will define just as high as they dare and let Moxie operate for as long as possible.
Hoffman said that to support a human mission in Mars, a lot of things must be added, such as computers, space combinations and habitats. But if we are able to do oxygen there, they are “ahead of the game,” he said.According to NASA, there is a long way to go before being able to produce two to three kilograms of oxygen per hour. It is the amount of oxygen that will be necessary to make tens of thousands of tonnes of propellant to raise a human crew of four to six astronauts from the surface of Mars and in terrestrial orbit.
This is the main objective of future oxygen generation technology to succeed Moxie. However, this technology will require 25 kilowatts of power. Moxie is able to use 100 watts of power. Scientists are testing means to make the next Moxie more economical in power. Currently, engineers only use 10% of Moxie’s power to generate oxygen. The rest of the power is used to execute the compressor that collects air, to operate electronics and compensate for the heat loss of the electrolysis unit through wires and tubes.