How will astronauts produce oxygen on Mars?

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Mars is considered one of the best planets for human settlement, but this planet has many disadvantages. For example, its atmosphere is much thinner than Earth's and consists of 95% unbreathable carbon dioxide. Before sending people to a distant planet, scientists need to come up with a way to obtain vital oxygen. At the end of July 2020, the NASA aerospace agency sent the Perseverance rover to Mars, which is equipped with a device for converting carbon dioxide into oxygen. Researchers are not yet sure whether it will be able to cope with its task, but the answer will be known in 2021. But how exactly does this device work?




The Perseverance rover is scheduled to arrive at Mars on portugal number data February 18, 2021. It is currently inside a capsule next to the Ingenuity helicopter. The rover’s main goal is to search for signs of present or extinct life on the Red Planet. The helicopter is needed only to understand whether similar devices can fly in Martian conditions. The Perseverance device is 90% made up of parts from the Curiosity rover. It consists of 7 different instruments, 23 cameras, and is equipped with several microphones.


Ingenuity Helicopter

To be more specific, the Perseverance payload consists of the following tools:

Mastcam-Z is a two-camera system that is also capable of determining the mineralogical composition of Martian soil;
SuperCam is a tool for chemical soil analysis that can remotely determine the presence of organic compounds in rocks;
PIXL — X-rays, needed to search for lithium, beryllium, gallium and other rare elements on Mars;
SHERLOC is a device for taking small-scale images, which are also important in studying the composition of Martian soil;
MEDA is a set of sensors for measuring air temperature, wind speed and direction, relative humidity, and other environmental features;
RIMFAX is a tool for studying the depths of the Red Planet;
MOXIE is an experimental instrument for converting carbon dioxide into oxygen.
You can see the location of each instrument in the image below. Different specialists from the NASA team are responsible for the operation of each part of the apparatus.



How to get oxygen on Mars?
In this article, we are most interested in the MOXIE instrument. According to the scientific publication New Atlas , this instrument is no larger than a home toaster. In short, the first thing it will do is absorb carbon dioxide from the Martian atmosphere using an air pump. Then, by applying electricity to it, it will split it into its components. Researchers expect that the result of this separation will be carbon monoxide and oxygen, which is extremely important for humanity. The process takes place at a temperature of about 800 degrees Celsius, so the device is made of fire-resistant materials. As part of the Perseverance mission, scientists want to find out how quickly and how much oxygen such a device can produce.