--- title: "NASA Gets Amazing New Results Generating Oxygen on Mars" description: "NASA's Perseverance Mars rover has crushed its previous record for turning the planet's thin atmosphere into a source of oxygen." date: "2023-06-28" modified: "2023-06-28" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/nasa-amazing-results-generating-oxygen-mars" categories: - "Astronomy" - "Mars" - "NASA" - "Space" tags: - "mars" - "NASA" - "perseverance" - "the digest" --- # NASA Gets Amazing New Results Generating Oxygen on Mars ![NASA's Perseverance Mars rover has crushed its previous record for turning the planet's thin atmosphere into a source of oxygen.]() *\Image: NASA\* ## Rolling the Dice NASA's Perseverance Mars rover has crushed its previous record for turning the planet's thin atmosphere into a source of oxygen, an exciting experiment that could have major implications for our future plans to visit the Red Planet. The rover's Mars Oxygen In Situ Resource Utilization Experiment ([MOXIE]()) achieved a major milestone earlier this month, [*Space.com* reports](), doubling the experiment's previous production level. "We got great results," Michael Hecht, MOXIE's principal investigator, told *Space.com*. "This was the riskiest run we've done." "This could have gone wrong," he added, explaining that the latest run could've damaged the sensitive instrument. Over 58 minutes, MOXIE achieved a production rate of roughly 12 grams of oxygen an hour, about twice as much as was expected. "We rolled the dice a little bit. It was 'hold your breath and see what happens,'" Hecht told *Space.com*. ## Mars Filter The instrument works by pumping Martian air into a reservoir and then using an electrochemical process to rip an oxygen atom from each carbon dioxide molecule. The process isn't without risk, as the solid carbon byproduct can build up inside the device. Over 2021, MOXIE ran one-hour experiments on seven occasions, even during the harsh Martian winter. Unfortunately, funding for the experiment is set to run out by the end of the year, according to *Space.com*, meaning Hecht and his colleagues are now on the lookout for new collaborators. It'd be a shame to stop the experiment short, as there are plenty of questions still to be answered. For now, the scientists are hoping to build Earth-based prototypes capable of generating enough oxygen for an entire mission to Mars. "It's all about lifetime," Hecht told *Space.com*. "We run an hour at a time. To do this in the future we will have to run for 10,000 hours." **More on MOXIE:** *[NASA's Perseverance Rover Just Turned Martian CO2 Into Oxygen]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()