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Pradeep Kumar

23/04/21 17:37 PM IST

NASA’s Perseverance mission produced oxygen on Mars

In news

The US space agency has announced that a device aboard the rover was able to produce oxygen from the thin Martian atmosphere for the first time

Process of production
  • In its first operation since arriving on the Red Planet, the Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment (MOXIE) produced 5 grams of oxygen from carbon dioxide in the Martian atmosphere, enough for an astronaut to breathe for 10 minutes.
  • On Mars, carbon dioxide makes up ~96% of the gas in the planet’s atmosphere.
  • Oxygen is only 0.13%, compared to 21% in Earth’s atmosphere. Like a tree on Earth, MOXIE inhales carbon dioxide and exhales oxygen.
  • To produce oxygen, MOXIE separates oxygen atoms from carbon dioxide molecules. It does so by using heat at a temperature of around 800 degrees Celsius, and in the process also produces carbon monoxide as a waste product, which it releases in the Martian atmosphere.
Requirement

A substantial amount of oxygen supply on Mars is essential for crewed missions that plan to go there– not just for astronauts to breathe but for rockets to use as fuel while coming back to Earth.

Source: Indian Express

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