Mars Oxygen ISRU Experiment

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MOXIE ( M ars OX ygen Me n resource usage E xperiment) is an experimental exploration technology that will produce small amounts of pure oxygen from the atmospheric carbon dioxide Mars (CO ₂ ) in a process called solid oxide electrolysis.

MOXIE is a 1% scale model on a planned Mars 2020 plane. The main Investigator of the MOXIE instrument is Michael Hecht of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The Niels Bohr Institute at the University of Copenhagen collaborated with MIT to develop this prototype. If successful, this technology can be upgraded as a means of producing oxygen for propellant oxidants at Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV) for sample returns.

Video Mars Oxygen ISRU Experiment

Destination

The main purpose of this experiment is to produce molecular oxygen (O ₂ ) of the atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO ₂ ) present in the atmosphere at 96%. The scientists will record the efficiency of the production rate of O ₂ , and the resulting oxygen and carbon monoxide will be released after the measurements are made.

To achieve this goal, the MOXIE instrument has the goal of producing 22 g of oxygen (O ₂ ) per hour with & gt; purity 99.6% for 50 soles (Martian days).

NASA officials stated that if MOXIE works efficiently, they can land a 100 times greater MOXIE-based instrument on Mars, along with a radioisotope thermoelectric generator. For several years the generator will move the system, which will generate up to two kilograms of oxygen per hour, and fill the oxygen reservoir that can be used for a sample return mission, or when astronauts arrive in the 2030s. The stored oxygen can be used to support life, and can also be used as a rocket propellant oxidizer to propel the journey back to Earth. High purity is important because future astronauts will inhale it. N
₂ and Ar is no separated from feed, but disposed of with carbon monoxide CO. CO, a by-product of the reaction, may also be collected and used directly as propellant or converted to methane (CH ₄ ) for use as propellant.

Maps Mars Oxygen ISRU Experiment

Development

The MOXIE experiment followed up on previous trials, Mars ISPP Precursors ("MIP"), which were designed and built to fly on the Mars Surveyor 2001 Lander mission. MIP is intended to demonstrate the Production of In-Situ Propellant ("ISPP") on a laboratory scale using electrolysis of carbon dioxide to produce oxygen on Mars. The MIP experiment was postponed when the 2001 Lander mission was canceled after Mars Landar's Marsar failure in 1998.

MOXIE will have a mass of about 15 kg (33 Ib).

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Principles

A solid oxide electrolysis cell works on the principle that, at high temperatures, certain ceramic oxides, such as yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) and processed cheerful, become oxide ions (O ^{2 -} ) conductors. A thin non-porous disk of YSZ (solid electrolyte) is sandwiched between two porous electrodes. For the formation of oxygen from carbon dioxide, CO ₂ diffuses through the porous electrode (cathode) and reaches around the electrolyte boundaries. Through the combination of thermal dissociation and electrocatalysis, the oxygen atom is released from the CO ₂ molecule and takes two electrons from the cathode to the oxide ion (O ^{2 -} ). Through the position of oxygen ions in the lattice of the electrolyte crystals, the oxygen ions are transported to the anode electrolyte interface because of the DC potential applied. At this interface the oxygen ions transfer the charge to the anode, joining the other oxygen atoms to form oxygen (O ₂ ), and diffusing out of the anode. Such net reactions 2CO
₂ ${\ displaystyle \ longrightarrow}$ 2CO O
₂ .

src: regmedia.co.uk

See also

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References

Source of the article : Wikipedia