Nasa absorbs oxygen from the thin Martian air.

◆In this undated photo taken in Pasadena, California, technicians from Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory lower the Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment (MOXIE) instrument into the belly of the Perseverance rover.

◆LOS ANGELES (AP) — Nasa announced on Wednesday that it had achieved another extraterrestrial first on its new trip to Mars: turning carbon dioxide from the Martian atmosphere into pure, breathable oxygen.

◆An experimental robot onboard Perseverance, a six-wheeled research rover that landed on the Red Planet February 18 after a seven-month trip from Earth, accomplished the unparalleled extraction of oxygen from thin air on Mars on Tuesday. The toaster-sized instrument called MOXIE was activated for the first time in its first activation,According to Nasa, the Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment provided about 5 grammes of oxygen, which is equal to about 10 minutes of breathing for an astronaut. Although the initial results were modest, the achievement marked the first experimental mining of natural resources from another planet's ecosystem for direct human use.

◆In a tweet, Trudy Kortes, director of technology demos for Nasa's Space Technology Mission Directorate, said, "MOXIE isn't just the first tool to manufacture oxygen on another planet." She dubbed it the "first of its kind" technology that would enable potential missions to "live off the soil" of another world.

◆The instrument operates by electrolysis, which uses high heat to remove oxygen atoms from carbon dioxide ions, which make up about 95 percent of Mars' atmosphere.

◆The remaining 5% of Mars' atmosphere, which is just 1% as solid as Earth's, is also made up of molecular nitrogen and argon. On Mars, there is just a trace amount of oxygen.

◆However, an abundant supply is considered essential for future human exploration of Mars, both as a source of breathable air for astronauts and as a component of rocket fuel to return them home.

◆The amount of material used to launch rockets into space from Mars is especially overwhelming.

◆Nasa estimates that it will require 15,000 pounds (7 metric tonnes) of rocket fuel and 55,000 pounds (25 metric tonnes) of oxygen to get four astronauts off the Martian soil.

◆MOXIE principal investigator Michael Hecht of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology said in a press release that transporting a one-ton oxygen-conversion system to Mars is more feasible than having to carry 25 tonnes of oxygen in tanks from Earth. 
 

◆Hecht estimates that astronauts living and working on Mars will take around one metric tonne of oxygen between them to last a year.

◆As a proof of concept, MOXIE is built to produce up to 10 grammes per hour, and scientists intend to run the machine at least nine more times over the next two years under various conditions and speeds, according to Nasa.

◆Nasa's first controlled powered flight of an aircraft on another planet, a smooth takeoff and landing of a miniature robot helicopter on Mars, comes a day after the landmark first controlled powered flight of an aircraft on another planet.

◆The twin-rotor chopper called Ingenuity, like MOXIE, hitched a ride to Mars with Perseverance, whose primary goal is to look for fossilised remains of ancient microbes that could have thrived billions of years ago on Mars.