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Technicians at Nasa s Jet Propulsion Laboratory lower the Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment (MOXIE) instrument into the belly of the Perseverance rover in an undated photograph in Pasadena. Reuters
Nasa has logged another extraterrestrial first on its latest mission to Mars: converting carbon dioxide from the Martian atmosphere into pure, breathable oxygen, the US space agency said on Wednesday.
The unprecedented extraction of oxygen, literally out of thin air on Mars, was achieved on Tuesday by an experimental device aboard Perseverance, a six-wheeled science rover that landed on the Red Planet on Feb 18 after a seven-month journey from Earth.
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Concept illustration of Perseverance Mars rover by NASA (Getty Images)
In a first, an instrument aboard Nasa’s latest Mars rover has produced oxygen from some of the Red Planet’s thin carbon dioxide rich atmosphere, an advance that could lead to new ways for future astronauts to produce breathable air on the planet.
According to the US space agency, the breakthrough also opens new doors for future missions where oxygen gas produced from the Martian atmosphere could be stored to help power rockets and lift astronauts off the planet.
The experimental demonstration by the toaster-sized instrument aboard the Perseverance rover – the Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment, or MOXIE – is a critical first step at converting carbon dioxide to oxygen on Mars, according to Jim Reuter, associate administrator of Nasa’s Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD).
BBC News
The American space agency has completed a second helicopter flight on Mars.
The small Ingenuity drone hovered 5m above the ground, tilted and moved laterally 2m, before then reversing and putting itself back down on the spot from which it took off.
Nasa wants each successive outing to up the ante - for the little chopper to fly higher, further and faster.
On Monday, Ingenuity made history by performing the first powered, controlled flight on another world.
All told, it s been a stunning week for the space agency, which also successfully demonstrated how you could make oxygen (O₂) from Mars carbon dioxide (CO₂) atmosphere.