Mars Oxygen ISRU Experiment (MOXIE)-Preparing for human Mars exploration

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

  • Jeffrey A. Hoffman
  • Michael H. Hecht
  • Donald Rapp
  • Joseph J. Hartvigsen
  • Jason G. SooHoo
  • Asad M. Aboobaker
  • John B. McClean
  • Andrew M. Liu
  • Eric D. Hinterman
  • Maya Nasr
  • Shravan Hariharan
  • Kyle J. Horn
  • Forrest E. Meyen
  • Harald Okkels
  • Parker Steen
  • Singaravelu Elangovan
  • Christopher R. Graves
  • Piyush Khopkar
  • Gerald E. Voecks
  • Peter H. Smith
  • Theis L. Skafte
  • Koorosh R. Araghi
  • David J. Eisenman

MOXIE [Mars Oxygen In Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) Experiment] is the first demonstration of ISRU on another planet, producing oxygen by solid oxide electrolysis of carbon dioxide in the martian atmosphere. A scaled-up MOXIE would contribute to sustainable human exploration of Mars by producing on-site the tens of tons of oxygen required for a rocket to transport astronauts off the surface of Mars, instead of having to launch hundreds of tons of material from Earth's surface to transport the required oxygen to Mars. MOXIE has produced oxygen seven times between landing in February 2021 and the end of 2021 and will continue to demonstrate oxygen production during night and day throughout all martian seasons. This paper reviews what MOXIE has accomplished and the implications for larger-scale oxygen-producing systems.

Original languageEnglish
Article numbereabp8636
JournalScience Advances
Volume8
Issue number35
Number of pages6
ISSN2375-2548
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 31 Aug 2022

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