There is a small box inside the belly of the Perseverance rover. The aim of the Mars Oxygen In Situ Resource Utilization Experiment is to produce oxygen from Mars's abundant carbon dioxide, paving the way for future crewed missions to the Red Planet.
MOXIE made more than 10 grams of oxygen per hour in the summer of this year. The device takes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and converts it into oxygen and carbon monoxide. The carbon monoxide can be released and the oxygen can be kept.
MOXie surpassed its previous milestone recently. In August it produced a peak of 10.44 grams of oxygen per hour, and in November it produced a peak of 10.06 grams per hour. It shows that MOXIE works on a small scale, and that it could be scaled up to be more efficient.
A bigger version of the device could be used for future missions. Making enough oxidizer for fuel for a rocket to take off from Mars isn't the main concern, it's making enough oxygen for astronauts to breathe. A system like this could be used to produce that amount of oxygen. The larger-scale system could produce oxygen for over a year, according to NASA.
Forrest Meyen, a member of the MOXIE science team, wrote about how long it has been since he started working on the project. I have devoted my career to discovering and utilizing space resources over that time. I took this moment to reflect on the perseverance needed to create our next leap into the universe.
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