On April 20, 2021, the cheerfully named MOXIE experiment will take place on Mars. extracted 5 grams of oxygen from the Martian atmosphere. This points to the potential future possibility of an established human presence in the atmospheres of Mars, or for that matter, other than Earth.
“Demonstrating this technology in real-world conditions brings us one step closer to a future where astronauts ‘live on the ground’ on Mars,” said Trudy Cortez, director of technology demonstration for space technology missions. . NASA Directorate release Announcing the results of the experiment.
In the same way that the Ingenuity helicopter was sent as a technology demonstration to demonstrate powered and controlled flight on other planets, MOXIE is an example of how human technology from other planets can be used extraterrestrially to our own. They were sent to test how the species could use it to survive.
MOXIE (short for Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment) was demonstrating true in-situ resource utilization. I will, or a simple but significant way of using local materials in space to enable existence.From extracting water from lunar regolith to extracting oxygen from Mars’ suffocating atmosphere, ISRU smarter way It is more important to seek survival beyond Earth than to transport everything we need from our pale blue dot.
Moxie arrived on Mars aboard the Perseverance rover. in February 2021Three months later, it succeeded in extracting oxygen for the first time, a feat that would be repeated 15 more times during the mission. The experiment uses an electrochemical process to separate oxygen from the carbon dioxide-rich atmosphere of Mars. MOXIE produced a total of 122 grams of oxygen on Mars, which is equivalent to the amount that a small dog breathes in 10 hours, according to the release.
“MOXIE has clearly been an inspiration to the ISRU community,” Michael Hecht, Event Horizon Telescope project director and MOXIE principal investigator, said in a release. “This demonstrated that NASA is willing to invest in this type of future technology, and it is a workhorse that has impacted the exciting industry of space resources.”
Although MOXIE was just a technology demonstration, it shows how ISRU can and likely will be used extraterrestrially. The new mission concept presents new ways humans can optimize the environment. scientific investigation to other means such as mining.of the next step is the moonthe focus of NASA’s Artemis mission.
Although there are no immediate plans for a second iteration of the oxygen production experiment, it provides an excellent basis for future technology demonstrations.. And even if future experiments are given a different name, no project in space can be carried out without some trepidation.
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