Moxier wallet generator#

This is the reason why NASA wanted to put the Oxygen Generator Subsystem on Mars Surveyor 2001: if we could make our own oxygen on the Martian surface, we’d have to send way, way, waaay less stuff to Mars in the first place. These single-digit payload fractions are the norm for sending things into space, which is why there’s such an intense focus on finding ways of reducing the amount of stuff that you have to haul out of a gravity well like Earth. For example, the SpaceX Falcon Heavy can put 16,800 kg into Mars transfer orbit, but doing so requires over 1.4 million kg of launch vehicle and fuel, meaning that the payload makes up just over 1% of the mass of the rocket. Really, getting anything into space period is all about mass. Well before Mars Surveyor 2001, NASA understood that getting astronauts to Mars and back is all about mass. Its payloads included experimental solar cells, dust characterization and mitigation, and perhaps most importantly, the OGS, or Oxygen Generator Subsystem, NASA’s attempt at in-situ propellant production (ISPP), now more generally known as ISRU (in-situ resource utilization). Instead, Mars Surveyor 2001 was intended to run experiments on the Martian surface in the context of future crewed missions. What was unique about this mission was it wasn’t really about Mars science in the sense that it wasn’t doing investigative geology or chemistry the way that missions before and since have. The window closed as the ISS rapidly got much more expensive, but one Mars mission squeaked through, sort of- Mars Surveyor 2001. However, in the late 1990s, there was a small window where NASA felt like the Shuttle and the ISS were stable programs, and the agency was willing to start thinking about Mars exploration again. There simply weren’t all that many resources left over for any other major initiatives. NASA decided to focus instead on low Earth orbit, starting work on the Space Shuttle, followed by the International Space Station. After the successful Apollo missions, some folks at NASA (including Wernher von Braun, chief architect of the Saturn V) advocated for the development of a crewed mission to Mars. The fact that it ended up on a rover (potentially taking the place of a science instrument that could have taken advantage of Perseverance’s mobility) seems to have been the result of shifting priorities at NASA with a history that goes back to the 1970s. It’s a little bit strange to have MOXIE on Perseverance at all MOXIE would be perfectly happy to remain completely stationary and derives no benefit from being hauled all around Jezero crater. 5.4 grams isn’t much, only enough to provide an astronaut with about 10 minutes of breathable air, but it proved that the system worked. MOXIE has already run successfully a couple of times, producing 5.4 grams of 98% pure oxygen over the course of an hour on April 20. The carbon monoxide is returned to the atmosphere, while the oxygen is stored and can be used in a variety of ways. MOXIE’s job on Mars is to demonstrate that it’s possible to break the carbon dioxide in the Martian atmosphere into carbon monoxide and oxygen through solid oxide electrolysis. It’s the appallingly bacronymed Mars Oxygen ISRU (In-Situ Resource Utilization) Experiment, or MOXIE, and I’m going to try to convince you that it’s the most exciting thing happening on Mars right now. That’s all great, but tucked up inside of Perseverance is another instrument about the size of a car battery that doesn’t move even a little bit and in fact spends most of its time not functioning at all. It’s got lasers, it’s got a big robot arm, it’s got a little robot arm, and it even launched a helicopter. Look, I know that the Perseverance rover has brought some flashy stuff to Mars.