Due to the limited resources and population capacity of the Earth, when the number of human beings reaches the threshold, it is necessary to migrate from outer space. Considering the limited level of science and technology at present, and the distance between stars and stars in the universe is often several light years, the target of human migration in a short period of time can only be placed in the solar system.
Across the entire solar system, only Mars conforms to some of the basic conditions of human existence but the headache is, as carbon-based organisms, human survival is the first condition of oxygen and water, and the atmosphere of Mars is mainly composed of carbon and nitrogen, oxygen, accounts for only 0.15%, obviously it's not enough oxygen to support human activities on the earth's surface.
However, as a higher intelligent life, human beings should create conditions if they have no conditions. Since there is not enough oxygen in nature, they should make more oxygen by themselves.
Recently, announced at the Massachusetts institute of technology, the team led by their oxygen in-situ resource utilization on Mars experiment tasks, success on Mars continues to produce oxygen, rich in carbon dioxide every run, manufacturing oxygen to 6 grams per hour, the speed of this is about an ordinary three levels of oxygen on earth 39bet-đua chó-game giải trí -đá gà-đá gà trực tuyến-đánh bài, relevant results have been published in the journal science progress.
The Mars in Situ Resource Utilization Experiment (MOXIE) is a device on the Perseverance Mars rover that extracts carbon dioxide from the Martian atmosphere and then converts it back to oxygen without any additional input, either during extreme temperatures or after a severe dust storm, MOXIE can produce high purity oxygen day and night.
Oxygen can be said to be one of the biggest difficulties for human migration to Mars. MOXIE's achievements give us hope. How on earth does it realize the conversion of carbon dioxide and oxygen on Mars?
The MOXIE on Perseverance is only the size of a lunch box. If we create a larger MOXIE in the future, can we really transform the atmosphere of Mars so easily?
On July 30, 2020, the Perseverance rover blasted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida and landed in Jezero Crater on Mars seven months later. Its mission was to search for past life on Mars and conduct scientific experiments to prepare for future migration to the planet.
One of them is THE Mars IN SITU Resource Utilization Experiment, a small instrument with a side length of just 30 centimeters, which is responsible for the oxygen-making mission.
MOXIE's idea is to capture and use the planet's own abundant carbon dioxide to make oxygen. It first sucks in Martian air -- about 95 percent carbon dioxide -- from the atmosphere through pumps and compressors. The air is first filtered to remove pollutants.
Then the compressed air, and use the heater to promote air temperature to 800 ℃, into solid oxide electrolyzer. Through electrochemical cells in two opposite polarity injection current between the electrode, carbon dioxide is broken into a carbon atoms and one oxygen atom, carbon monoxide go away as waste emissions, the rest of the oxygen atoms separated recombinant form of oxygen molecules.
Since Perseverance landed in February last year, MOXIE has started seven times in a single Martian year. The atmosphere on Mars is much more variable than on Earth, with air densities that can vary by up to twice as much at different times of the year and air temperatures that can fluctuate by up to 100 degrees Celsius.
In order to see how MOXIE's production varied under different conditions in the Martian atmosphere, it was switched on at different times of the day or night, or during different seasons, and the results showed that MOXIE could successfully produce oxygen under different conditions on Mars.
The team was looking for a larger device, and on Mars before missions to Mars, now MOXIE every time before starting to preheat a few hours, and start running only one hour each time, the scientists envision larger version MOXIE can run continuously for a long time at a higher efficiency, with hundreds of trees of oxygen generation speed continuous production of oxygen.
That way, MOXIE's oxygen would be enough to sustain the astronauts' daily activities once they reach Mars, and it would also fuel the return rocket to get them back to Earth.
Although the success of MOXIE makes us see the possibility of transforming Mars, it is only possible. After making a bigger MOXIE, we will face more problems.
Firstly, the working principle of MOXIE is to separate oxygen atoms from carbon dioxide and emit carbon monoxide. Carbon monoxide is a harmful gas to human beings. After it enters the human body, it will reversibly bind with hemoglobin, causing hypoxia in the human body and blocking the discharge of carbon dioxide in the body, which eventually leads to poisoning.
More MOXIE in the future means more carbon monoxide. The oxygen needed by humans is directly proportional to the carbon monoxide emitted by them, which is obviously not a virtuous cycle.
Can support human tasks in addition to this, make the oxygen quantity. It will take about a MOXIE work 400 days in a row, but so far, MOXIE run only lasts one hour at a time, and if you want to make a bigger version of MOXIE, to better manage the internal temperature, to ensure that the equipment can be uniform heating, which is one of the major technical problems.
Immigrants on other planets to establish the human path of second homes is long and arduous. The future there will be more difficult to overcome, but this time the MOXIE experimental validation for the first time the use of the surface of another planet's resources, with the help of a chemical reaction, can translate them for substances necessary for human beings, is historical progress.