Mars Oxygen Generator

 

Mars has a thin, cold atmosphere that Earth-life cannot breathe. But Mars does have molecules we can use to make air and other useful stuff.

The Rocket Team has a cool piece of equipment called the Mars Oxygen Generator. We call it MOXG for short.

MOXG acts like a plant: it "inhales" carbon dioxide (one carbon atom connected to two oxygen atoms is CO2) and "exhales" pure oxygen (O2).

MOXG knocks an oxygen atom off the carbon dioxide using high heat: about 800 Celsius.

A poison gas, carbon monoxide (one carbon atom connected to one oxygen atom is CO), is a waste product emitted harmlessly into the Martian atmosphere.

We have big MOXG units at each habitat and base, and we have small ones no bigger than a toaster in our life support backpacks. Since lots of heat is involved, we use special heat-tolerant materials that we 3D-print out of metals we mine on Mars.

So we are really living off the land like the early pioneers. We can make all the basic stuff we need right on Mars!

More info:

[1] https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/spacecraft/instruments/moxie/

[2] https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-s-perseverance-mars-rover-extracts-first-oxygen-from-red-planet

If you could 3D print on Mars, what would you print? Tell me at

RamoneRocketeer -at- gmail -dot- com.