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

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

doi:10.1126/sciadv.abp8636

Cited by 39 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…MOXIE has been reported to produce a maximum of 12 g h −1 of O 2 22 which translates to a power normalized O 2 production of 8.27 g W −1 day −1 (considering only the power required for electrolysis, ca 35 W). But considering the total power requirements to run the stack (the SOXE will not run unless it is heated to or near its operating temperature of 1037 K) 21 and normalizing the O 2 production rate using this value ( ca 115 W), the power normalized O 2 production rate was 2.5 g W −1 day −1 under MOXIE operating conditions on Mars.…”

Section: State‐of‐the‐art and Proposed New Direction In Isrumentioning

confidence: 99%

Methane and oxygen from energy‐efficient, low temperature in situ resource utilization enables missions to Mars

2023

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The United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA's) mandate is a human mission to Mars in the 2030s and sustained exploration of Mars requires in situ resource utilization (ISRU). Exploiting the Martian water cycle (alongside perchlorate salts that depress water's freezing point to <213 K) and the available 95 vol.% atmospheric CO 2 , we detail an ultra-low temperature (255 K) CO 2 -H 2 O electrolyzer to produce methane fuel and life-supporting oxygen on Mars. Our polarization model fit experimental Martian brine electrolyzer performance and predicted CO 2 electrolysis occurring at comparatively lower potentials (vs. water electrolysis) on Mars. A hypothetical 10-cell, 100 cm 2 electrode-area-per-cell electrolyzer produced 0.45 g W À1 day À1 of CH 4 and 3.55 g W À1 day À1 of O 2 at 2 V/cell and 50% electrolyzer faradaic efficiency versus a best-case production of 2.5 g W À1 day À1 of O 2 by the Mars Oxygen in situ Resource Utilization Experiment (MOXIE) from NASA's Mars 2020 mission (MOXIE produces no fuel). Material performance requirements are presented to advance this technology as an energy-efficient complement to MOXIE.

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Section: State‐of‐the‐art and Proposed New Direction In Isrumentioning

confidence: 99%

Methane and oxygen from energy‐efficient, low temperature in situ resource utilization enables missions to Mars

2023

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“…As of 2022, SRU has been demonstrated only once in space, despite these technologies playing an key role in ESA’s and NASA’s space exploration road maps 12 , 18 . The MOXIE ( M ars OX ygen I SRU E xperiment) payload on board NASA’s Perseverance Rover produced oxygen from Mars’ CO 2 -rich atmosphere in 2021 by solid oxide electrolysis 19 . Lunar SRU demonstration missions are under development (e.g., refs.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Toward the utilisation of resources in space: knowledge gaps, open questions, and priorities

2023

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There are many open science questions in space resource utilisation due to the novelty and relative immaturity of the field. While many potential technologies have been proposed to produce usable resources in space, high confidence, large-scale design is limited by gaps in the knowledge of the local environmental conditions, geology, mineralogy, and regolith characteristics, as well as specific science questions intrinsic to each process. Further, the engineering constraints (e.g. energy, throughput, efficiency etc.) must be incorporated into the design. This work aims to summarise briefly recent activities in the field of space resource utilisation, as well as to identify key knowledge gaps, and to present open science questions. Finally, future exploration priorities to enable the use of space resources are highlighted.

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“…As an example, MOXIE is a device that successfully demonstrated the production of oxygen directly from the Martian atmosphere at a rate of 10 g per hour, similar to a small tree on Earth [ 44 , 45 ]. MOXIE works by compressing the gas intake and heating it to a high temperature (~800 °C) and then breaking down electrochemically the CO 2 into oxygen and CO.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Splitting CO2 in Intense Pulsed Plasma Jets

Scurtu

Ticoş

Mitu

et al. 2023

IJMS

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The splitting of CO2 was studied in a pulsed plasma discharge produced in a coaxial gun at voltages between ~1 and 2 kV and peak discharge currents of 7 to 14 kA. The plasma was ejected from the gun at a speed of a few km/s and had electron temperatures between 11 and 14 eV with peak electron densities ~2.4 × 1021 particles m−3. Spectroscopic measurements were carried out in the plasma plume produced at pressures between 1 and 5 Torr, and evidence of CO2 dissociation into oxygen and CO was found. An increased discharge current led to the observation of more intense spectra lines and the presence of new oxygen lines, which implies more dissociation channels. Several dissociation mechanisms are discussed, the main candidate being the splitting of the molecule by direct electron impact. Estimates of dissociation rates are made based on measured plasma parameters and interaction cross-sections available in the literature. A possible application of this technique is in future Mars missions where the coaxial plasma gun running in the atmosphere could be able to produce oxygen at a rate of the order of over 100 g per hour in a highly repetitive regime.

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

Cited by 39 publications

References 12 publications

Methane and oxygen from energy‐efficient, low temperature in situ resource utilization enables missions to Mars

Methane and oxygen from energy‐efficient, low temperature in situ resource utilization enables missions to Mars

Toward the utilisation of resources in space: knowledge gaps, open questions, and priorities

Splitting CO2 in Intense Pulsed Plasma Jets

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