MAKING OXYGEN

• In an unprecedented event, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has extracted oxygen from the carbon dioxide from the thin Martian atmosphere. 

• This extraction was achieved by MOXIE i.e. Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment.

• MOXIE is carried on  Perseverance.

• This is the first ever extraction of a natural resource from the environment of another planet.

PERSEVERANCE:

• Perseverance is a six-wheeled science rover.

• It is the most advanced, most expensive and most sophisticated mobile laboratory which is being sent to Mars.

• It has the potential of drilling and collecting core samples of the most promising rocks and soils, and setting them aside on the surface of Mars.

• Landing Site of perseverance is Jezero Crater on mars.

• It was launched in July of 2020.

• It landed in february, 2021. 

• Power Source: 

  • It utilises a Multi-Mission Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator (MMRTG) which converts heat from the natural radioactive decay of plutonium (Plutonium Dioxide) into electricity.