Do you know Moxie? Before you pull out your Pokédex and search through all the boxes on Bill’s PC: No, it’s not a pocket monster. Moxie is one cube-shaped NASA machinewho is currently on a semester abroad on Mars and, together with the Perseverance rover, ensures that we don’t have to do without our beloved oxygen on the red planet in the future either.
In a recent article in Science Magazine Science Advances the people involved in the project explained in more detail how exactly Moxie (Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment
) is working.
There’s no Mars party without oxygen
Why all the effort at all? The answer to this question should be obvious, but of course we also have hard facts ready: The atmosphere of Mars hosts only around 0.2 percent oxygen
But it’s not just about breathing. NASA has been planning the mission for some time Mars Sample Return
, in which a rocket is to be launched – but not on Earth, but on Mars. And what does a rocket engine need in order to ignite successfully? You can guess: oxygen.
Moxie wants to solve all these problems by using the existing resources available on Mars to produce oxygen from it. That would be spectacular in itself, but the choice of chemical compound used by Moxie makes the whole endeavor even more impressive: carbon dioxide.
Moxie is small in size but has a big purpose. (Source: NASA/JPL-Caltech)
reverse breathing
Martian carbon dioxide can only laugh out loud at the already mentioned 0.2 percent oxygen. Because this gas is available in abundance on Mars. That makes it the ideal candidate for Moxie’s venture.
And with success: According to the researchers, Moxie has already successfully completed seven test runs and produces oxygen both day and night. Six grams per hour to be exact. Of course, that’s by no means enough to feed humans on Mars. However, Moxie still has to be compact in size and not consume too much energy in order to be transported by the Mars rover.
According to the engineers, a larger variant of Moxie could run continuously and thus produce significantly more oxygen.
The inconspicuous box has a lot to offer. (Source: NASA/JPL-Caltech)
The conversion of carbon dioxide to oxygen could be called in layman’s terms reverse breathing
describe. As is well known, during the basic autonomous function of our body, oxygen is consumed in the cells, which produces carbon dioxide as a waste product. So Moxie quickly turns the tables.
The reactions of people who probably deal with such topics on a daily basis also show how great the success of Moxie can be assessed. Jeffrey Hoffmann For example, who conducts research at the renowned Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT):
This is the first demonstration of how truly resources on another planet’s surface are being used to chemically transform them into something useful for human missions. In that respect, this is a historic moment.
Are you now full of SciFi fever after reading this message? Then let’s see what other exciting stories our GameStar store has to offer. Ah yes, how about this:
Life on Mars – an intriguing prospect for you, or would no oxygen in the world make you leave Earth? Fire up your imagination machine and let us know if you’d head for the stars or not, we’re excited!
