Posted on 04/27/2015 7:25:17 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Six years from now a machine that makes oxygen will be in operation on Mars.
The small oxygen device will be sent to the Red Planet with the NASA Mars 2020 mission.
"We're going to build a small instrument that will generate oxygen on Mars. It will be the prototype of a much larger 'factory' that will provide astronauts with oxygen at some point in the future," says Morten Bo Madsen, the head of the Mars group at the Niels Bohr Institute at the University of Copenhagen.
The project is known at NASA as MOXIE (Mars OXygen In Situ resource utilisation Experiment). Madsen's research group was selected by NASA to participate in the project alongside senior researcher Christopher Graves from the Technical University of Denmark (DTU).
How to brew oxygen on Mars
There is practically no oxygen in Mars's atmosphere, but the MOXIE device will “brew” oxygen from carbon dioxide (CO2), which there is plenty of in the planet’s atmosphere.
A carbon dioxide molecule consists of a carbon atom (C) and two oxygen atoms (O2), and it will be the job of the MOXIE apparatus to split the carbon dioxide molecules apart.
The splitting process requires energy, but the end result will be oxygen molecules and a by-product in the form of carbon monoxide (CO).
"MOXIE works like a sort of fuel cell in reverse. A fuel cell produces energy by melting together hydrogen and oxygen to produce water. Instead, we'll be using energy to remove an oxygen atom from CO2," says Madsen.
He explains that MOXIE will get its energy from a Radio Thermal Generator (RTG) which generates electricity from heat developed in radioactive plutonium.
Will provide oxygen people on Mars
Around 96 per cent of the Martian atmosphere consists of carbon dioxide so there is plenty of raw material for oxygen production.
NASA spokespersons have stated that MOXIE is only the beginning of oxygen production on Mars.
"Having the ability to produce oxygen on the surface of Mars is a great step forward when it comes to mankind's future exploration of Mars," said Michael Meyer, a leading scientist at NASA's Mars Exploration Program, to Space.com.
The plan is to build an entire oxygen factory on the red planet which will be about 100 times the size of the first MOXIE prototype which is to be launched from Earth with the Mars 2020 mission.
The prototype oxygen factory will have to be ready when NASA sends the first humans to Mars at some time in the 2030s.
Vehicle will collect samples on Mars
The idea behind the Mars 2020 mission is to send an autonomous rover to Mars and have it drive around collecting samples from a planet -- much like Curiosity is doing right now.
"In comparison to Curiosity, what is new about the Mars 2020 mission is that it will gather selected samples which can be encapsulated and then returned to Earth at a later date," says Madsen.
His contribution to MOXIE instrument is, among other things, developing a method whereby the instrument can “harvest” carbon dioxide from the Martian atmosphere without the fine electrical circuits being wrecked by dust.
The Mars group at the University of Copenhagen has also been selected to contribute to the development of another instrument for the Mars 2020 mission, known as Mastcam Z.
It is a special camera which, fitted to a mast on the vehicle be able to see way out in the terrain as well as to zoom in and take close-ups.
The Mars 2020 rover will be launched in July or August 2020. The journey to Mars will take 7 to 9 months.
WHAT ever happened to pumping CO2 into the atmosphere to warm up Mars , LOL
So man is trying to CREATE climate change on Mars?
How about water in so cal
Martian warming!
I get the idea that it’s for creating oxygen in enclosed facilities.
Israel has solved their water shortage problem with their desalinization plants. California should get some advice from Israel.
It is interesting to me as the first feeble attempts to maybe live on another planet. They will not succeed unless they have water, oxygen, food, and shelter.
Shelter would probably be the least of their problems as they could send the materials to build from earth but they couldn’t continually supply water, oxygen and food.
To start with they could supply all from earth for a very limited time but for long time survival they will have to learn to produce it all from the resources on Mars.
Is that doable? I don’t think it is as far as food at least right now. They may actually find water which would really help.
A machine to turn co2 into oxygen. Isn’t that what plants do? Why not send up a probe to dig some holes and put in some tundra-tolerant plants?
Making oxygen on Mars and keeping an atmosphere there are 2 separate issues.
I think this is great, however. I hope it works. There sure is a lot of real estate out there on the Red Planet.
I don’t think that plants will produce it as fast as humans could consume it in an enclosed facility.
I don’t believe they are talking about terraforming, here.
I don’t see that they are talking about terraforming, in this article.
No, I see that.
Anyway as Sasparilla noted, "Making oxygen on Mars and keeping an atmosphere there are 2 separate issues."
Arthur Clarke didn't address that problem in the novel.
Mars atmosphere is 96% CO2.
A great place to make beer or champagne.
Mars atmosphere is 96% CO2.
yep
“Making oxygen on Mars and keeping an atmosphere there are 2 separate issues.”
I don’t think they plan on releasing the O2 to the atmosphere ...
There’s supposed to be water on Mars. Just make an electrolysis and capture the O2!
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