MOXIE completes historic oxygen-making mission on Mars

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Organization: NASA JPL
Country: U.S.
Website: jpl.nasa.gov
Year Founded: 1936
Number of Employees: 500+
Innovation Class: Technology

The Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment (MOXIE) generated oxygen for the 16th and final time aboard NASA’s Perseverance Rover on Aug. 7, 2023. The microwave-sized device surpassed all expectations from its creators at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Jet Propulsion Laboratory (NASA JPL) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

After Perseverance landed on Mars on Feb. 18, 2021, MOXIE generated 122 grams of oxygen, which is about what a small dog breathes in 10 hours, NASA said. At its most efficient, MOXIE produced 12 grams of oxygen per hour at a purity of 98% or better. This is twice as much as NASA’s original goal for the instrument. On its final run, MOXIE made 9.8 grams of oxygen.

MOXIE produces molecular oxygen through an electrochemical process that separates one oxygen atom from each molecule of carbon dioxide pumped in from Mars’ thin atmosphere. As the gases flow through the system, they’re analyzed to check the purity and quantity of the oxygen produced.

Devices based on the technology at work in MOXIE will be key for future missions. It seems obvious that astronauts who could someday find themselves on Mars will need an oxygen source to breathe, but NASA has other uses in mind.

In particular, the technologies inside MOXIE could serve as a source of rocket propellant, which will be required in industrial quantities to launch rockets with astronauts for their return trip home.

During its time on Mars, MOXIE completed all of its technical requirements and lasted through the varying conditions of a full Mars year. It performed the first-ever demonstration of an oxygen-producing system on the red planet.

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