NASA'S MOXIE concludes oxygen extracting mission on Mars

The Mars Oxygen In-situ Resource Utilization Experiment (MOXIE), an instrument aboard NASA's Perseverance Mars rover, has completed its mission of extracting oxygen from the Martian atmosphere.

On August 7, the microwave-oven-size device generated oxygen for the 16th and final time. MOXIE has produced about 122 grams of oxygen - for comparison, it is about what a small dog breathes in 10 hours - since the rover's landing on the Martian surface in March 2021.

MOXIE was operated at a variety of conditions throughout a full Mars year and its operations are now concluding. It served as the first-ever demonstration of technology that humans could use to survive on and leave Mars.

"MOXIE’s impressive performance shows that it is feasible to extract oxygen from Mars’ atmosphere – oxygen that could help supply breathable air or rocket propellant to future astronauts. Developing technologies that let us use resources on the Moon and Mars is critical to build a long-term lunar presence, create a robust lunar economy, and allow us to support an initial human exploration campaign to Mars," said NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy.

According to NASA, the tiny instrument leverages an electrochemical process to generate molecular oxygen. The process involves the separation of one oxygen atom from each molecule of carbon dioxide pumped in from the thin Martian atmosphere. As these gases flow through the system, they’re analyzed to check the purity and quantity of the oxygen produced.

Paving the way for future Mars explorers 👩‍🚀MOXIE, a tech demo aboard @NASAPersevere, has completed its mission of extracting oxygen from the Martian atmosphere, a test that could help supply breathable air or rocket propellant for future astronauts. https://t.co/7DMHj9LkNX pic.twitter.com/D10ZdQFU30

— NASA JPL (@NASAJPL) September 7, 2023

As space agencies worldwide are preparing to send human to Mars, this technology is viable for astronauts to produce oxygen for fuel and breathing.

The scientists would now create a full-scale system that includes a MOXIE-like oxygen generator and a way to liquefy and store that oxygen.