Moxie- the Mars oxygen

What is Moxie?

• Moxie stands for Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment (MOXIE).

• A lunchbox-sized gadget has successfully generated breathable oxygen on Mars, equivalent to the effort of a tiny tree.
• The Moxie has been successfully producing oxygen from the red planet’s carbon dioxide-rich atmosphere since February 2021.
• Researchers propose that a scaled-up version of Moxie be sent to Mars to continually create oxygen at the pace of hundreds of trees, ahead of people visiting the planet.

• Moxie landed on the surface of Mars as part of Nasa’s Perseverance rover mission.

• Moxie was able to manufacture oxygen on seven experimental runs by the end of 2021, in a variety of atmospheric circumstances, notably during the day and night, and across several Martian seasons.
• It met its objective of producing 6g of oxygen per hour in each run, which is comparable to the rate of a small tree on Earth.
• It is anticipated that when fully operational, the system will produce enough oxygen to support humans on Mars and power a rocket to return them to Earth.
• This is the first demonstration of actually using resources on the surface of another planetary body, and transforming them chemically into something that would be useful for a human mission.
• The present version of the device is small enough to fit aboard the Perseverance rover and is designed to run for brief periods of time. 
• Larger units, preferably running constantly, would be included in a full-scale oxygen factory.
• So far, Moxie has demonstrated that it can produce oxygen at practically any time of day or year on Mars.