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Mahesh

03/09/22 04:16 AM IST

Oxygen on Mars

In News 
  • A small box sent with the Perseverence rover of the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration has produced oxygen in Mars with components from the planet’s atmosphere, according to a new report. 
About MOXIE
  • It was sent by NASA on the Perseverence and made by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
  • It works like a tree, splitting carbon dioxide absorbed from the atmosphere to produce pure oxygen.
  • The instrument produced 6 grams of oxygen per hour, similar to a moderate-sized tree.
  • Inside Moxie, Martian air is first filtered in and pressurised. “It is then sent through the Solid OXide Electrolyzer (SOXE), which electrochemically splits the carbon dioxide-rich air into oxygen ions and carbon monoxide.
  • The oxygen ions are isolated and recombined to form breathable, molecular oxygen (O2).
Significance
  • The project can be scaled up ahead of human missions to continuously produce oxygen “at the rate of several hundred trees. On this scale, it can also fuel the rocket to bring the astronauts back home, they said.
Source- Down To Earth 

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