Written by Nishanth Dommety and Sai Bethi
Edited by Navika Mittal
The evolution of modern technology has allowed interest in the field of space to increase. The advancements in rocket, robotic, and communication technologies have helped humans explore beyond our planet's atmosphere. This curiosity for exploration has helped innovators innovate to inhabit and sustain life on other planets.
Not only are government space agencies interested, Elon Musk’s SpaceX is too. SpaceX has been working on reusable rocket technologies to reduce the cost of space travel. The goal of sending crewed missions and establishing colonies is constantly being worked toward. The Starship spacecraft is intended to be a reusable rocket while carrying humans on this mission of exploring Mars.
The quest to inhabit other planets is shown through NASA's Mars exploration program. The various Mars rovers of Spirit, Curiosity, and Opportunity have provided data about the Martian environment. These rovers have helped scientists understand the challenges of life on Mars, including the harsh climate and limited resources. Through the continued efforts of NASA’s Perseverance rover, launched in 2020, scientists continue to try and find living organisms and make life on Mars adaptable.
NASA continues their space journey, as in July 2020, they launched an Atlas-V rocket aiming to escape the Earth’s orbit. As many know, the payload consisted of the Mars Perseverance Rover and the Ingenuity Drone. Rovers such as Perseverance provide insight about what conditions are like on the Martian surface and help us prepare accordingly for future manned missions. They are our scouts for future expeditions, which is why they’re so important. Perseverance, an SUV-sized rover, will take Martian soil samples and store them in capsules so that, in future missions, we can bring them back to Earth for analysis. What many don’t know is that Perseverance is carrying a special instrument known as the Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment (MOXIE). This instrument is one of the most important pieces of equipment aboard the rover, as it can define how we plan our future Mars missions.
Designed by MIT, as the name suggests, the primary scientific goal of MOXIE is to convert CO2 to O2. Through an electrochemical process, oxygen atoms are separated from CO2 molecules pumped into Mars’ atmosphere. This process is very similar to the way we create energy from oxygen and fuel, except the reverse is happening here. This is important because, in order to establish a permanent human settlement on Mars, we must be able to sustain ourselves there using the resources available without depending on Earth. As Mars's atmosphere is made up of 95% carbon dioxide, we need to be able to make our own oxygen for breathing and for rocket fuel.
As of October 2023, throughout the duration of Perseverance’s mission since 2021, MOXIE has generated about 122 grams of oxygen, which is what a small dog breathes in 10 hours. During one of its test runs, MOXIE was able to generate 12 grams of oxygen per second at 98% purity. With such success, Associate Director Micael Hecht at MIT and his team aim to build a “full-scale system that includes an oxygen generator like MOXIE and a way to liquify and store that oxygen.”
Additionally, the Moon has also been a target for space exploration through NASA’s Artemis program, which aims to send astronauts to the lunar surface and establish colonies by the end of the decade. The Artemis mission can help test new technologies that could be applied to future missions to Mars. With our ultimate goal of colonizing Mars, we must first be able to reach our Moon.
November 2022 was an exciting time for the space community. After years of planning and engineering, NASA finally launched its Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, carrying the Orion spacecraft. This unmanned mission was to test the abilities of the capsule and the rocket. The Orion spacecraft orbited the Moon for a total of 25 days, traveling 1.3 million miles. This marked the beginning of humanity’s return to the Moon, 50 years after the Apollo Era.
Although both programs share the goal of landing humans on the Moon, there are slight differences. The Apollo missions utilized an expendable lunar module and a command module, which not only limited the landing options on the Moon. The Artemis missions will instead utilize a new technique known as pre-staging, having everything prepared well in advance before the mission. This also plans for the construction of a lunar space station known as Gateway, which will be crucial, as it will have a lunar landing module prepared in advance for the crew and also serve as a relay for communications from the Moon and Earth. Designed to be built with open standards, the station can be expanded upon as new missions and scientific objectives are planned by NASA and its international partners.
Through the coming years, the use of modern technology has helped humans explore planets better. This exploration will prove to be useful as it leads new pathways towards further exploration in other galaxies!
References
NASA's Oxygen-Generating Experiment MOXIE Completes Mars Mission. (2023, September 6). NASA. Retrieved March 31, 2024, from https://www.nasa.gov/missions/mars-2020-perseverance/perseverance-rover/nasas-oxygen-generating-experiment-moxie-completes-mars-mission/
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