{"id":8461,"date":"2014-08-03T01:57:02","date_gmt":"2014-08-03T05:57:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=8461"},"modified":"2014-08-03T01:57:02","modified_gmt":"2014-08-03T05:57:02","slug":"mars-2020-rover-to-include-oxygen-producer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=8461","title":{"rendered":"Mars 2020 Rover to include oxygen producer"},"content":{"rendered":"

This past week NASA announced the selection of instruments that will go on the Mars 2020 rover vehicle. One of the most interesting of these systems\u00a0is the \u00a0<\/strong>Mars Oxygen ISRU Experiment (MOX<\/em>IE)\u00a0, which will\u00a0demonstrate the conversion of\u00a0carbon dioxide in the atmosphere into oxygen. Such conversion\u00a0is a key enabler of Mars habitation: Going to the Red Planet:\u00a0An MIT oxygen-creating instrument has been selected to fly on the upcoming Mars 2020 mission.<\/em>\u00a0– MIT News Office<\/a><\/p>\n

MOXIE \u2014 short for Mars OXygen In situ resource utilization Experiment \u2014 was selected from 58 instrument proposals submitted by research teams around the world. The experiment, currently scheduled to launch in the summer of 2020, is a specialized reverse fuel cell whose primary function is to consume electricity in order to produce oxygen on Mars, where the atmosphere is 96 percent carbon dioxide. If proven to work on the Mars 2020 mission, a MOXIE-like system could later be used to produce oxygen on a larger scale, both for life-sustaining activities for human travelers and to provide liquid oxygen needed to burn the rocket fuel for a return trip to Earth.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cHuman exploration of Mars will be a seminal event for the next generation, the same way the moon landing mission was for my generation,\u201d says Michael Hecht, principal investigator of the MOXIE instrument and assistant director for research management at the MIT Haystack Observatory. \u201cI welcome this opportunity to move us closer to that vision.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Here is the full press release from NASA about the Mars 2020 instruments:<\/p>\n

NASA Announces Mars 2020 Rover Payload to Explore
\nthe Red Planet as Never Before<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0The next rover NASA will send to Mars in 2020 will carry seven carefully-selected instruments to conduct unprecedented science and exploration technology investigations on the Red Planet.<\/p>\n

NASA announced the selected Mars 2020 rover instruments Thursday at the agency’s headquarters in Washington. Managers made the selections out of 58 proposals received in January from researchers and engineers worldwide. Proposals received were twice the usual number submitted for instrument competitions in the recent past. This is an indicator of the extraordinary interest by the science community in the exploration of the Mars. The selected proposals have a total value of approximately $130 million for development of the instruments.<\/p>\n

\"An
\n<\/a>An artist concept image of where seven carefully-selected instruments
\nwill be located on NASA\u2019s Mars 2020 rover. The instruments will conduct <\/em>
\nunprecedented science and exploration technology investigations<\/em>
\n on the Red Planet as never before. Image Credit: NASA<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0The Mars 2020 mission will be based on the design of the highly successful Mars Science Laboratory rover, Curiosity, which landed almost two years ago, and currently is operating on Mars. The new rover will carry more sophisticated, upgraded hardware and new instruments to conduct geological assessments of the rover’s landing site, determine the potential habitability of the environment, and directly search for signs of ancient Martian life.<\/p>\n

“Today we take another important step on our journey to Mars,” said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden.\u201d While getting to and landing on Mars is hard, Curiosity was an iconic example of how our robotic scientific explorers are paving the way for humans to pioneer Mars and beyond. Mars exploration will be this generation\u2019s legacy, and the Mars 2020 rover will be another critical step on humans’ journey to the Red Planet.”<\/p>\n

Scientists will use the Mars 2020 rover to identify and select a collection of rock and soil samples that will be stored for potential return to Earth by a future mission. The Mars 2020 mission is responsive to the science objectives recommended by the National Research Council’s 2011 Planetary Science Decadal Survey.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Mars 2020 rover, with these new advanced scientific instruments, including those from our international partners, holds the promise to unlock more mysteries of Mars\u2019 past as revealed in the geological record,\u201d said John Grunsfeld, astronaut and associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. \u201cThis mission will further our search for life in the universe and also offer opportunities to advance new capabilities in exploration technology.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Mars 2020 rover also will help advance our knowledge of how future human explorers could use natural resources available on the surface of the Red Planet. An ability to live off the Martian land would transform future exploration of the planet. Designers of future human expeditions can use this mission to understand the hazards posed by Martian dust and demonstrate technology to process carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to produce oxygen. These experiments will help engineers learn how to use Martian resources to produce oxygen for human respiration and potentially as an oxidizer for rocket fuel.<\/p>\n

“The 2020 rover will\u00a0help\u00a0answer questions about the Martian environment that astronauts will face\u00a0and test technologies they need before\u00a0landing on, exploring and returning from the Red Planet,”\u00a0said William Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “Mars has\u00a0resources needed\u00a0to help\u00a0sustain life, which can\u00a0reduce the amount of supplies that human missions will need to carry. Better understanding the Martian dust and weather will be valuable data for planning human Mars missions. Testing\u00a0ways to extract these resources and understand the environment\u00a0will help\u00a0make the pioneering of Mars\u00a0feasible.”<\/p>\n

The selected payload proposals are:<\/p>\n