MOXIE completes its last run on Mars, producing oxygen from the atmosphere
The MOXIE instrument on the rover Perseverance in Jezero Crater on Mars has completed its sixteenth and last operational run, once again demonstrating that oxygen can be extracted from the Martian atmosphere in sufficient quantities to supply a future colony of humans.
Since Perseverance landed on Mars in 2021, MOXIE has generated a total of 122 grams of oxygen – about what a small dog breathes in 10 hours. At its most efficient, MOXIE was able to produce 12 grams of oxygen an hour – twice as much as NASA’s original goals for the instrument – at 98% purity or better. On its 16th run, on Aug. 7, the instrument made 9.8 grams of oxygen. MOXIE successfully completed all of its technical requirements and was operated at a variety of conditions throughout a full Mars year, allowing the instrument’s developers to learn a great deal about the technology.
Future MOXIEs will likely be larger in scale, even more efficient, and include methods for liquifying and storing any oxygen produced, though for producing a breathable atmosphere for Martian colonists all that would be needed would be an enclosed habitat. An operating MOXIE-type oxygen generator could fill it.
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The MOXIE instrument on the rover Perseverance in Jezero Crater on Mars has completed its sixteenth and last operational run, once again demonstrating that oxygen can be extracted from the Martian atmosphere in sufficient quantities to supply a future colony of humans.
Since Perseverance landed on Mars in 2021, MOXIE has generated a total of 122 grams of oxygen – about what a small dog breathes in 10 hours. At its most efficient, MOXIE was able to produce 12 grams of oxygen an hour – twice as much as NASA’s original goals for the instrument – at 98% purity or better. On its 16th run, on Aug. 7, the instrument made 9.8 grams of oxygen. MOXIE successfully completed all of its technical requirements and was operated at a variety of conditions throughout a full Mars year, allowing the instrument’s developers to learn a great deal about the technology.
Future MOXIEs will likely be larger in scale, even more efficient, and include methods for liquifying and storing any oxygen produced, though for producing a breathable atmosphere for Martian colonists all that would be needed would be an enclosed habitat. An operating MOXIE-type oxygen generator could fill it.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
Very interesting!
At scale, I recall a paper that argued it was cheaper energy-wise to take the oxygen from the Martian air. (Oxygen can be made by ultraviolet breaking down oxides, like the Martian ice.) There’s not a lot of O2 in Mars, but enough to beat the MOXI process (E is for experiment).
MOXI seems better for carbon-scrubbing where the energy is cheap and they’re not making more oxygen. Maybe an asteroid. Maybe Deimos?