NASA managed to produce oxygen on Mars

The NASA rover-mounted equipment completed the world's first experiment to produce oxygen on Mars. The toaster-sized device produced enough oxygen to allow one astronaut to work for several hours.

Landing on the red planet in February 2021, Perseverance rover spent more than two years burning carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, producing a small amount of oxygen.

With the help of a device no larger than a microwave oven, it was able to produce 122 grams of oxygen, which will reach the astronaut for three hours.

Approximately 5 grams of oxygen is sufficient to provide one astronaut with 10 minutes of breathing, fueling the hope that oxygen production on Mars could support humans on a larger scale.

According to NASA Administration head Pem Melroy, since its first attempt in April 2021, a device called MOXIE has produced oxygen in 16 separate states, far more than the space agency's original plans.

"The impressive results of MOXIE show that it is possible to extract oxygen from The Martian atmosphere — oxygen will help provide future astronauts with air or rocket fuel to breathe. The development of technologies for the use of Lunar and Martian resources is extremely important to ensure long-term stay on the Moon, create a solid lunar economy, and support the initial research campaign on Mars,” he said.

MOXIE created at most 12 grams of oxygen per hour, twice NASA's target and at least 98 percent pure. During his last work in August, the instrument produced 9.8 grams of oxygen.

The main task of the Perseverance Rover is to look for signs of ancient microbial life, while MOXIE is aimed at studying the conditions for the future search of a person.