A device on NASA’s Perseverance rover split carbon dioxide molecules into their component parts, creating about 10 minutes’ worth of breathable oxygen, ScienceNews reports. It was also enough oxygen to make tiny amounts of rocket fuel. The instrument, called MOXIE (Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment), is about the size of a toaster. Its job is to break oxygen atoms off carbon dioxide, the primary component of Mars’ atmosphere.
www.science-news.org/article/nasa-perseverance-rover-mars-oxygen-air
