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Technicians reducing MOXIE into the Perseverance Rover in 2019. | Supply: NASA/JPL
NASA launched the outcomes of its Perseverance Rover’s first seven oxygen technology runs on Mars. The runs all came about throughout the rover’s first yr on the pink planet, from February 2021 to the tip of 2021, and have been carried out utilizing the robotic’s Mars Oxygen In-Situ Useful resource Utilization Experiment (MOXIE).
Developed with the Massachusetts Institute of Know-how (MIT), MOXIE’s job is to soak up carbon dioxide and produce oxygen. The gadget is in regards to the measurement of a automobile battery, however NASA imagines a future model of the gadget could be about 100 instances bigger.
Carbon dioxide makes up about 95% of the Martian ambiance, giving Perseverance a lot to work with when making oxygen. Throughout its first seven runs, MOXIE created about 6 grams of oxygen per hour. In a more moderen run, MOXIE’s eleventh to this point, the staff was capable of get that charge as much as about 10.5 grams an hour, about half the quantity a human would wish to outlive.
The staff was capable of obtain this greater manufacturing charge due to the circumstances on Mars at present. The planet is in the course of its winter, when chilly nights and comparatively excessive atmospheric pressures create the very best air density of the yr. The extra carbon dioxide within the air, the extra oxygen MOXIE can produce.
MOXIE’s predominant objective, nevertheless, isn’t to assist people breathe on Mars. As an alternative, NASA desires to make use of MOXIE’s know-how to make sufficient propellant to elevate a human crew of about 4 to 6 astronauts off the floor of the planet and into orbit. To do that, the gadget might want to make 2-3 kg of oxygen an hour.
One in every of MOXIE’s predominant limitations proper now could be its energy provide. Creating kilograms of oxygen each hour would require round 25 kilowatts of energy, and Perseverance solely produces about 100 watts for MOXIE to make use of. Solely 10% of that energy goes in direction of creating oxygen, the remainder is used to run the compressor that takes in air, electronics for the gadget and extra.
The staff’s analysis was revealed in Science Advances earlier this week.
Different Perseverance milestones
Perseverance’s predominant mission on Mars is to gather rock samples that may finally be returned to Earth. The rover cored its first rock pattern in September 2021, and to this point it has collected 12 rock samples that may hopefully give scientists perception into whether or not there was historic life on the planet.
The rover has already began scouting for good spots for the Mars Pattern Return (MSR) Marketing campaign to land. NASA plans to launch its Earth Return Orbiter in fall 2027 and its Pattern Retrieval Lander in summer time 2028. The lander is anticipated to make it to the floor of Mars in 2030. If all goes effectively, the samples ought to return to Earth in 2033.
You may work together with a 3D rendering of the Perseverance Rover by clicking and dragging to show the rover or zooming in to take a look at particular elements beneath.
The Perseverance Rover gained a 2022 RBR50 Robotics Innovation award for its achievement of coring its first rock from our sister publication Robotics Enterprise Evaluate.