NASA’s Perseverance Rover converts Carbon Dioxide to Oxygen on Mars for the 1st time

As NASA's (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) Perseverance rover continues to make history, the US-based space agency in a statement on Wednesday revealed that a six-wheeled robot has converted some carbon dioxide from the Martian atmosphere into oxygen. It is important to note here that this is the first time that carbon dioxide has been converted into oxygen on another planet.

NASA's Perseverance Mars rover creates history

"This is a critical first step at converting carbon dioxide to oxygen on Mars," said Jim Reuter, associate administrator for NASA's space technology mission directorate.

As per the release by NASA, the technology demonstration had taken place on April 20 and it hopes future versions of the experimental instrument that was used could pave the way for future human exploration. The space agency also mentioned that this small-robotic device can not only produce oxygen for future astronauts to breathe, but it could make hauling vast amounts of oxygen over from Earth to use as rocket propellant for the return journey unnecessary. 

Detailing about the six-wheeled robot, NASA said that the Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment-or MOXIE-is a golden box in the size of a car battery and it is located on the front right side of the rover. Dubbed a "mechanical tree," it uses electricity and chemistry to split carbon dioxide molecules, which are made up of one carbon atom and two oxygen atoms. "It also produces carbon monoxide as a byproduct," the space agency added.

More about Perseverance

A key objective of Perseverance’s mission on Mars is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize the planet’s geology and past climate, paving the way for human exploration of the Red Planet, and be the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith (broken rock and dust).

Subsequent NASA missions, in cooperation with ESA (European Space Agency), would send spacecraft to Mars to collect these sealed samples from the surface and return them to Earth for in-depth analysis. The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission is part of NASA’s Moon to Mars exploration approach, which includes Artemis missions to the Moon that will help prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, which is managed for NASA by Caltech in Pasadena, California, built and manages operations of the Perseverance rover.

(Image: Pixabay-Representative, Twitter- @NASAPersevere)