The American rover Perseverance was able to obtain oxygen from the planet’s atmosphere, according to the website of the US National Space Agency (NASA).
“A growing list of ‘first’ discoveries for Perseverance, NASA’s newest six-wheeled robot on the surface of Mars, included converting a portion of the Red Planet’s thin, carbon-dioxide-rich atmosphere into oxygen. An experimental instrument called the Mars Oxygen In-situ Resource Utilization Experiment (MOXIE) accomplished this task, ”the report said. NASA clarified that the experiment took place on April 20, on the 60th sol (Martian day) from the beginning of the mission on the planet’s surface.
“Isolation and storage of oxygen on Mars [может понадобиться в будущем] for rockets capable of lifting astronauts from the surface of the planet. Such devices may also one day provide the astronauts themselves with breathable air, ”the message explains the need for the experiment.
In particular, it is assumed that an oxygen converter capable of providing astronauts with this gas for creating fuel and breathing will weigh about a ton, sending such a device to Mars is a feasible task right now. At the same time, oxygen itself for a launch from Mars may require 25 tons, and for breathing during a year – 1 ton. It is difficult to transport such volumes to Mars, which speaks in favor of producing oxygen from the Martian atmosphere in situ using a compact device.
The atmosphere of Mars is 96% carbon dioxide. The MOXIE experimental device, which is later planned to be scaled up, works by separating oxygen atoms from carbon dioxide molecules. As a result, a residual product – carbon monoxide – is released into the atmosphere of Mars.
Earlier, on April 19, another important experiment was successfully carried out as part of the mission for the first time. The Ingenuity NASA mini-helicopter, delivered along with the rover, conducted the first ever controlled flight in the atmosphere of Mars. The flight of the device, delivered to Mars as part of the expedition of the Perseverance rover, lasted 30 seconds. A mini-helicopter with two coaxial propellers of 1.2 m rose to a height of about 3 m as part of a test flight and took photographs of the surface. Subsequently, the device should carry out larger-scale flights and detailed surveys of the terrain.
NASA’s Perseverance exploration vehicle with a rover on board landed on Mars in February 2021. Rover will explore the Jezero crater for two years, where previously, using satellite data, a former delta of a river flowing into a large lake was discovered. Scientists believe that traces of ancient microbial life could have survived in the crater, and the rover will look for them.
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