Making oxygen on Mars: Rover tests technology to make Red Planet breathable
NASA rover turns carbon dioxide into oxygen on Mars
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And this week, Perseverance was successful in one major test: Creating oxygen!
Mars’ atmosphere is mostly carbon dioxide, but that doesn’t cut it -- humans need oxygen to breathe, and also for rocket fuel to return home.
So, when Perseverance landed on Mars earlier this year, it brought with it a toaster-size instrument called the Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment -- or “MOXIE” for short.
Here’s how it works: Carbon dioxide is made up of one carbon atom and two oxygen atoms. MOXIE separates the two oxygen atoms from that carbon atom and, voila, you have oxygen!