NASA's Perseverance rover has just whipped up some oxygen on Mars! Yes, you read that right.
They've got a snazzy gadget called MOXIE (Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment) that's made it happen.
Here's the deal: Mars has a lot of carbon dioxide in its air. MOXIE figured out how to turn that into oxygen.
✅ It’s mission accomplished for my MOXIE instrument!
— NASA's Perseverance Mars Rover (@NASAPersevere) September 7, 2023
I brought this device to test making oxygen from Mars’ CO2 atmosphere, and it worked great. This tech could pave the way for future explorers to make their own rocket fuel and breathable air. 🚀
More: https://t.co/BR2GqQtWDs pic.twitter.com/okFg8YyUvy
It's like magic but with science! This trick could change the game for future Mars missions.
Think astronauts breathing easier and staying longer on the Red Planet.
MOXIE has been on a roll, doing this oxygen thing 16 times in a row.
Over two years, it's cranked out enough oxygen to keep a small dog alive for 10 hours.
Not quite enough for humans to go Martian jogging, but it's a super cool start.
Why is this a big deal? Well, Mars is far, far away, and sending stuff there is tricky.
The more we can make stuff on Mars itself, the better.
So, thanks to MOXIE, NASA's dream of sending people to Mars in the 2030s just got a whole lot closer. Science fiction becoming science fact!
