NASA’s Perseverance rover has been on Mars for 62 days, and has already made many historic achievements. In addition to delivering the first helicopter to the red planet, this week Perseverance used the Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment (MOXIE) to create oxygen on Mars! Using electrolysis, Perseverance was able to separate an oxygen molecule from the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. After an hour of work, MOXIE created about 5 grams of oxygen which can keep an astronaut healthy for roughly 10 minutes. This holds great potential for future human missions to Mars.
To learn more about MOXIE, follow the links below!
- Image Credit: NASA
