NASA: Oxygen-producing Device on Mars Performed above Expectations

2023 · VOA Learning English

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1. The American space agency NASA says a device placed on Mars to produce oxygen has performed better than expected in a series of

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2. experiments. The system is called MOXIE.

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3. It is designed to change, or convert, carbon dioxide captured from the Mars atmosphere into oxygen.

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4. The instrument works through a process called electrolysis.

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5. This process uses extreme heat to separate oxygen atoms from molecules of carbon dioxide.

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6. Carbon dioxide makes up about 95 percent of the Martian atmosphere, NASA reports The rest is mostly molecular nitrogen and argon.

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7. But future exploration of Mars and possibly other planets by humans will require a large supply of oxygen.

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8. NASA has said the chemical element will be necessary for astronauts to breathe and to produce rocket fuel for launches carried out from the Martian surface.

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9. NASA financed the MOXIE demonstration experiment. A team from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) created the device.

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10. The MOXIE instrument was carried to Mars aboard NASA’s Perseverance explorer, or rover.

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11. Perseverance arrived on the Red Planet in February 2021. The device is a box-shaped instrument attached to the rover.

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12. NASA reported its first results with the MOXIE system in April 2021.

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13. At the time, the space agency reported the device had successfully converted carbon dioxide from the Martian atmosphere into oxygen.

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14. In the first experiment, MOXIE produced 5.4 grams of oxygen in one hour.

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15. NASA then carried out a series of additional experiments to test the effectiveness of the system.

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16. In a statement issued earlier this month, leaders of the demonstration project said MOXIE had completed its 16th and final experiment.

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17. They noted the device’s impressive performance” had proven it was possible to capture oxygen from the Martian atmosphere.

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18. Such oxygen “could help supply breathable air or rocket propellant to future astronauts,” the statement said.

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19. NASA said that MOXIE had produced a total of 122 grams of oxygen since Perseverance landed on Mars.

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20. While the amount of oxygen is small, it represented the first experimental capture of a natural resource from the environment of another planet.

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21. When working at its highest level of effectiveness, the instrument was able to produce 12 grams of oxygen in one hour.

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22. NASA says this is twice as much as its engineers first estimated the system could produce.

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23. The MOXIE team has also been measuring the purity of the oxygen the device produces.

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24. Overall, it has reported the instrument produced oxygen that was at least 98 percent pure.

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25. The latest experiments with MOXIE on Mars are designed to help NASA build a much larger version of the system.

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26. A full-sized device could be deployed on Mars in the future.

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27. A NASA explanation of the instrument states: “The goal of a Big MOXIE would be to make and store all the oxygen that the astronaut and their rocket would need for their mission

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28. before they even launch.” Such a system would need to make between 2,000 to 3,000 grams of oxygen per hour, the space agency noted.

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29. Trudy Kortes is the director of technology demonstrations at NASA Headquarters in Washington D.C.

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30. She said the agency was pleased to be able to support such a technology.

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31. “By proving this technology in real-world conditions, we’ve come one step closer to a future in which astronauts ‘live off the land’ on the Red Planet,” Kortes said.

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32. MIT’s Michael Hecht leads the MOXIE development operation. He said in a statement the team’s work will next center on working on the larger version of MOXIE.

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33. In addition, scientists will need to create equipment to liquefy and store the produced oxygen. I’m Bryan Lynn.

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