"NASA's MOXIE Proves Oxygen Production on Mars: A Game-Changer for Future Missions"

NASA's Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization (MOXIE) experiment, located on the Perseverance rover, has successfully demonstrated the extraction of breathable oxygen from the thin Martian atmosphere. Over 16 runs, MOXIE has produced a total of 122 grams of oxygen, enough to sustain a small dog for 10 hours or a human for 4 hours. The experiment works by using electrolysis to break down carbon dioxide into oxygen ions, which are then recombined into molecular oxygen. This breakthrough paves the way for future missions to Mars, as it could potentially provide breathable air and rocket propellant for astronauts.