Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

CTOnews.com, September 1 (Xinhua)-- NASA said that Yili used its "Mars oxygen in situ Resource Utilization experiment" (MOXIE) equipment to successfully extract carbon dioxide from the Martian atmosphere and convert it into oxygen, about the amount of oxygen produced by a small tree. Humans are a small step closer to landing on the red planet.

Since testing began in April 2021, MOXIE has conducted seven experiments under different atmospheric conditions, including Martian day and night, as well as different seasons, all proving that the system can produce oxygen, according to a study published Wednesday in the journal Science Advances.

CTOnews.com warned that Mars, like Earth, has different seasons, but it lasts longer than the seasons on Earth because Mars orbits the sun for longer.

In each operation, MOXIE reached its goal of producing 6 grams of oxygen per hour-about the speed of an ordinary tree on Earth.

"this is the first practical application of using resources on the surface of another planet and turning it chemically into something useful to humans," said MOXIE's deputy lead researcher, Jeffrey Hoffman, a retired astronaut and professor in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at MIT.

"in this sense, this is a historic breakthrough."

The MOXIE is small, about the size of a toaster, so it can be mounted on the Mars rover perseverance. It can be run in a short period of time, starting and shutting down each time it runs, in line with the rover's exploration plan and other mission responsibilities.

A large MOXIE will hold more units, can run continuously, and may have been sent to Mars before humans hit the fire, producing oxygen at the speed of hundreds of trees. This will store enough oxygen for astronauts to not only sustain life after human arrival, but also provide fuel for rockets so that astronauts can return to Earth smoothly.

Michael Hector (Michael Hecht), lead researcher on the MOXIE mission at the Hay Stack Observatory (Haystack Observatory) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), said that MOXIE's steady output since its arrival on Mars is a promising first step towards that goal, although more adjustments are needed to ensure that it operates at dawn and dusk (when temperatures change dramatically).

▲ MOXIE was loaded on the perseverance in 2019. (source: NASA)

MOXIE's thin Martian atmosphere contains 96% carbon dioxide, which doesn't help humans who need to breathe oxygen.

It is also more changeable than the earth's atmosphere. "the density of air can change twice as much in a year, and the temperature can change by 100 degrees," Hoffman said. " "one goal is to show that we can MOXIE in all seasons."

MOXIE works by breaking down the CO2 molecule of carbon dioxide into one carbon atom and two oxygen atoms, and then emitting carbon monoxide as waste, leaving oxygen atoms to synthesize oxygen O2.

According to reports, engineers are still testing "MOXIE". They are looking for ways to increase their production capacity, increase oxygen production, and then focus on the Martian spring environment, which researchers say is particularly high in atmospheric density and carbon dioxide levels.

"the next operation will be at the highest density of the year, and we just want to make as much oxygen as possible," Hector said. "We will set everything as high as possible and make it as long as possible."

In addition, MOXIE is also tenacious. Although it needs to be tortured repeatedly in the course of testing, the system is still running steadily. But in any case, with the passage of time, its thermal stress will lead to system degradation. According to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, this means that a complete system needs to be designed to run continuously, which can run for thousands of hours.

"in order to support the human mission to Mars, we have to bring a lot of things from Earth, such as computers, spacesuits and habitat," Hoffman said in a statement. "but that stupid old oxygen?" If you can do it, do it-you are far ahead. "

Members of the ▲ NASA Mars 2020 project installed the Mars oxygen in situ Resource Utilization experiment (MOXIE) into the chassis of the Yili rover.

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