NASA’s Perseverance rover is conducting various experiments on Mars to create breathable Oxygen for the future human mission.
In recent experiments, the Perseverance rover instrument has made breathable Oxygen on the red planet. It has demonstrated that we can have the instruments on the Mars surface to produce sufficient breathable Oxygen for the future human colony.
The baby step towards building the Mars colony is taking shape with each success NASA achieves with its Lander on Mars. In the past Mars mission, it was seen that the atmosphere of the red planet was dusty, and no breathable air was available on the Earth.
NASA is still finding the water on Mars. It believes that water still exists under the thick layer of the Mars surface, but the rover has yet to find water on Mars due to limited resources and various challenges.
However, the geology of Mars indicates that there is plenty of water on Mars’s surface, which evaporates when Mars’s atmosphere vanishes due to some external events.
Water and Oxygen are the primary substances required to build the human colony on Mars.
NASA’s perseverance rover has produced 4.3 ounces of breathable Oxygen on the red planet using onboard instruments. It is enough to sustain an adult human for three hours.
The experiment is the first of its kind, offering NASA more insight into the life on Mars. Perseverance rover has produced enough Oxygen on Mars to sustain the astronaut, which is an incredible achievement.
Technology will help us to build a bigger model to make oxygen production more convenient. Three hours of oxygen production through the diminutive instruments and available resources on Mars would support the future astronaut in life and death conditions.
NASA’s Perseverance rover touched down on Mars in 2021. Since then, it has been moving on the Mars surface, exploring the region and the soil. Production of Mars Oxygen is part of the ongoing experiment that the Perseverance rover has assigned during the mission.
In-situ onboard instrument uses a Moxie device to produce Oxygen by converting carbon dioxide.
Since the experiment began, the device has made approximately 4.3 ounces or 122 grams of Oxygen using the microwave-size device. Oxygen production is enough to make a small dog consume Oxygen for about 10 hours.
An experiment is a small step that will help the future man mission to Mars, where the astronauts do not have to carry Oxygen during the flight. Already established colonies using the pre-launch devices on Mars will be capable of producing enough Oxygen for the astronauts on Mars. It has given the hope that life could survive on Mars.
NASA is conducting several other experiments on the red planet to find the sign of early life. Finding water is one of the core missions of NASA’s rover mission. Useful products onboard are making discoveries every month and helping the scientists rewrite the Mars textbook.
In the actual world condition, when the astronaut lands on Mars, the technology will help to create a sustainable environment for humans. Plenty of oxygen supply will help the astronauts to live off the land comfortably, carrying the necessary Oxygen and exploring the hidden landscape of the Red Planet.
NASA chose carbon dioxide because of the element found in Abundant on Mars. It makes up to 95% of the thin atmosphere on Mars. It is zapping a small amount of carbon dioxide to produce sufficient Oxygen.
The onboard MOXIE device stripped the Oxygen from the CO2 atoms. The onboard device analyzes the purity of the Oxygen to confirm that the air is breathable for the living being. In the process, the leftover gas is emitted during the conversion process and forms carbon monoxide.
Scientists looking at this experiment by NASA see oxygen extraction as a helpful device for various other purposes on Mars. The extracted Oxygen can be used as fuel for the rocket in future missions.
The onboard device of the Perseverance rover has shown impressive performance. It is feasible to extract Oxygen from Mars’s atmosphere, which could help the astronauts and rockets propellant to power with the Oxygen produced on the Mars surface.
Panela Metroy, the deputy administrator at NASA, is developing a technology to let the resources of the moon and Mars be used in critical situations to build a long-term mission. Instead of carrying help from the Earth, we can use the available resources found in space during the flight to create a space colony.
NASA wants to build a robust lunar economy to make the human multi-planetary. Such small missions and experiments would support the future human exploration program.
