Since February of last year, the Mars Oxygen In situ Experiment, or Moxie, has been successfully producing oxygen from the red planet’s carbon dioxide-rich atmosphere. The researchers suggest that a scaled-up version of Moxie could be sent to Mars to continuously produce oxygen at the rate of several hundred trees, ahead of humans going to the planet. Moxie landed on the surface of Mars as part of Nasa’s Perseverance rover mission. In a study, the researchers report that by the end of 2021, Moxie was able to produce oxygen in seven experimental runs, in a variety of atmospheric conditions, including day and night, and in different seasons on Mars. On each run he achieved his goal of producing 6 grams of oxygen per hour – similar to the speed of an average tree on Earth. It is hoped that at full capacity the system could produce enough oxygen to sustain humans once they reach Mars and power a rocket to return humans to Earth. Moxie’s associate research director Jeffrey Hoffman, professor of the practice in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), said: “This is the first demonstration of actually using resources on the surface of another planetary body and converting them chemically. to something that would be useful for a human mission.” The current version of the instrument is small by design to fit on the Perseverance rover and is built to operate for short periods. A full-scale oxygen plant would include larger units that would ideally operate continuously. So far, Moxie has shown that it can produce oxygen at almost any time of the Martian day and year. Michael Hecht, principal investigator of the Moxie mission at MIT’s Haystack Observatory, said: “The one thing we haven’t demonstrated is running at dawn or dusk, when the temperature changes substantially. “We have an ace up our sleeve that will allow us to do this, and once we test it in the lab, we can reach this final milestone to show that we can actually run at any time.” If the system can operate successfully despite being turned on and off repeatedly, this suggests that a full-scale system, designed to operate continuously, could do so for thousands of hours. Hoffman said: “To support a human mission to Mars, we need to bring many things from Earth, such as computers, spacesuits and habitats. “But dumb old oxygen? If you can pull it off, go for it – you’re way ahead of the game.” The findings are published in the journal Science Advances.


title: “Nasa S Moxie Instrument Successfully Produces Oxygen On Mars Mars Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-11-29” author: “Matthew Medina”


Since February of last year, the Mars Oxygen In situ Experiment, or Moxie, has been successfully producing oxygen from the red planet’s carbon dioxide-rich atmosphere. The researchers suggest that a scaled-up version of Moxie could be sent to Mars to continuously produce oxygen at the rate of several hundred trees, ahead of humans going to the planet. Moxie landed on the surface of Mars as part of Nasa’s Perseverance rover mission. In a study, the researchers report that by the end of 2021, Moxie was able to produce oxygen in seven experimental runs, in a variety of atmospheric conditions, including day and night, and in different seasons on Mars. On each run he achieved his goal of producing 6 grams of oxygen per hour – similar to the speed of an average tree on Earth. It is hoped that at full capacity the system could produce enough oxygen to sustain humans once they reach Mars and power a rocket to return humans to Earth. Moxie’s associate research director Jeffrey Hoffman, professor of the practice in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), said: “This is the first demonstration of actually using resources on the surface of another planetary body and converting them chemically. to something that would be useful for a human mission.” The current version of the instrument is small by design to fit on the Perseverance rover and is built to operate for short periods. A full-scale oxygen plant would include larger units that would ideally operate continuously. So far, Moxie has shown that it can produce oxygen at almost any time of the Martian day and year. Michael Hecht, principal investigator of the Moxie mission at MIT’s Haystack Observatory, said: “The one thing we haven’t demonstrated is running at dawn or dusk, when the temperature changes substantially. “We have an ace up our sleeve that will allow us to do this, and once we test it in the lab, we can reach this final milestone to show that we can actually run at any time.” If the system can operate successfully despite being turned on and off repeatedly, this suggests that a full-scale system, designed to operate continuously, could do so for thousands of hours. Hoffman said: “To support a human mission to Mars, we need to bring many things from Earth, such as computers, spacesuits and habitats. “But dumb old oxygen? If you can pull it off, go for it – you’re way ahead of the game.” The findings are published in the journal Science Advances.


title: “Nasa S Moxie Instrument Successfully Produces Oxygen On Mars Mars Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-11-29” author: “Mei Stearns”


Since February of last year, the Mars Oxygen In situ Experiment, or Moxie, has been successfully producing oxygen from the red planet’s carbon dioxide-rich atmosphere. The researchers suggest that a scaled-up version of Moxie could be sent to Mars to continuously produce oxygen at the rate of several hundred trees, ahead of humans going to the planet. Moxie landed on the surface of Mars as part of Nasa’s Perseverance rover mission. In a study, the researchers report that by the end of 2021, Moxie was able to produce oxygen in seven experimental runs, in a variety of atmospheric conditions, including day and night, and in different seasons on Mars. On each run he achieved his goal of producing 6 grams of oxygen per hour – similar to the speed of an average tree on Earth. It is hoped that at full capacity the system could produce enough oxygen to sustain humans once they reach Mars and power a rocket to return humans to Earth. Moxie’s associate research director Jeffrey Hoffman, professor of the practice in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), said: “This is the first demonstration of actually using resources on the surface of another planetary body and converting them chemically. to something that would be useful for a human mission.” The current version of the instrument is small by design to fit on the Perseverance rover and is built to operate for short periods. A full-scale oxygen plant would include larger units that would ideally operate continuously. So far, Moxie has shown that it can produce oxygen at almost any time of the Martian day and year. Michael Hecht, principal investigator of the Moxie mission at MIT’s Haystack Observatory, said: “The one thing we haven’t demonstrated is running at dawn or dusk, when the temperature changes substantially. “We have an ace up our sleeve that will allow us to do this, and once we test it in the lab, we can reach this final milestone to show that we can actually run at any time.” If the system can operate successfully despite being turned on and off repeatedly, this suggests that a full-scale system, designed to operate continuously, could do so for thousands of hours. Hoffman said: “To support a human mission to Mars, we need to bring many things from Earth, such as computers, spacesuits and habitats. “But dumb old oxygen? If you can pull it off, go for it – you’re way ahead of the game.” The findings are published in the journal Science Advances.


title: “Nasa S Moxie Instrument Successfully Produces Oxygen On Mars Mars Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-11-29” author: “Brian Scott”


Since February of last year, the Mars Oxygen In situ Experiment, or Moxie, has been successfully producing oxygen from the red planet’s carbon dioxide-rich atmosphere. The researchers suggest that a scaled-up version of Moxie could be sent to Mars to continuously produce oxygen at the rate of several hundred trees, ahead of humans going to the planet. Moxie landed on the surface of Mars as part of Nasa’s Perseverance rover mission. In a study, the researchers report that by the end of 2021, Moxie was able to produce oxygen in seven experimental runs, in a variety of atmospheric conditions, including day and night, and in different seasons on Mars. On each run he achieved his goal of producing 6 grams of oxygen per hour – similar to the speed of an average tree on Earth. It is hoped that at full capacity the system could produce enough oxygen to sustain humans once they reach Mars and power a rocket to return humans to Earth. Moxie’s associate research director Jeffrey Hoffman, professor of the practice in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), said: “This is the first demonstration of actually using resources on the surface of another planetary body and converting them chemically. to something that would be useful for a human mission.” The current version of the instrument is small by design to fit on the Perseverance rover and is built to operate for short periods. A full-scale oxygen plant would include larger units that would ideally operate continuously. So far, Moxie has shown that it can produce oxygen at almost any time of the Martian day and year. Michael Hecht, principal investigator of the Moxie mission at MIT’s Haystack Observatory, said: “The one thing we haven’t demonstrated is running at dawn or dusk, when the temperature changes substantially. “We have an ace up our sleeve that will allow us to do this, and once we test it in the lab, we can reach this final milestone to show that we can actually run at any time.” If the system can operate successfully despite being turned on and off repeatedly, this suggests that a full-scale system, designed to operate continuously, could do so for thousands of hours. Hoffman said: “To support a human mission to Mars, we need to bring many things from Earth, such as computers, spacesuits and habitats. “But dumb old oxygen? If you can pull it off, go for it – you’re way ahead of the game.” The findings are published in the journal Science Advances.