Tag: Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover MOXIE

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Science Instrument of Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover

MOXIE of the Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover – part 3

The Perseverance Mars Rover‘s MOXIE runs the oxygen-making experiments autonomously and there are two challenges it is facing.

The first challenge is from the harsh Martian environment. The temperature can fluctuate for over 65 Celsius or 150 Fahrenheit during day and night, and it is yet to find out how the Perseverance Mars Rover‘s MOXIE will react to this abrupt temperature change. Moreover, in every Winter, around 30% of the Martian atmosphere vanishes and the temperature is so low that carbon dioxide solidifies and drops to the Martian surface. Ideally, the Perseverance Mars Rover‘s MOXIE should be able to operate at all times without stopping since it is designed to produce oxygen for human survival. Therefore, the record for how the Perseverance Mars Rover‘s MOXIE will respond to Mars’ harsh environmental condition will be extremely valuable data for MOXIE’s developers and researchers, so that the future MOXIE can be designed to work smoothly no matter the environmental changes. The Perseverance Mars Rover‘s MOXIE is planned to run 10 times totally during the mission under as many different conditions as possible. Our 1:2 Mars Rover Replica may or may not replicate the MOXIE instrument. If we do replicate it, it will not be able to make oxygen, and will not produce that much heat. But we may design it so that it will make the motor running sound effects.

If you are interested in our 1:2 Mars Rover Replic, you may check [1:2 Perseverance Mars Rover Replica Design and Building Diary].

The second challenge the Perseverance Mars Rover‘s MOXIE instrument faces is the byproduct generated. Theoretically, the carbon dioxide will be split into oxygen and carbon monoxide. However, scientists are still researching how to properly run the Perseverance Mars Rover‘s MOXIE instrument. If operating it too gently, the carbon dioxide will just go through the instrument and not produce enough oxygen so the oxygen conversion rate will be very low. But if operating it too heavily, not only will you get carbon monoxide, but also there will be some single carbon atoms. For now, the unwanted solid carbon is cleaned manually to avoid it from blocking the normal operation.

In the future, if humans can set foot on Mars, a much larger version of the Perseverance Mars Rover‘s MOXIE will need to make around 30,000 kg, or 66,000 lbs of oxygen to support a trip home from Mars to Earth. If the Perseverance Mars Rover‘s MOXIE is successful, this means it will save 4 to 5 trips from Earth to Mars for transferring that much liquid oxygen.

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Science Instrument of Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover

RIMFAX of the Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover

The Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover‘s RIMFAX is short for the Radar Imager for Mars’ Subsurface Experiment. It is a frequency modulated continuous wave radar. The Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover‘s RIMFAX has a mass of 3 kg, or around 6.6 lbs with a dimension of 7 inches by 4.7 inches by 2.4 inches, or 196cm by 120cm by 66cm. For our 1:2 Perseverance Mars Rover Replica, the dimension of the RIMFAX will be 3.5 inches by 2.35 inches by 1.2 inches, or 98cm by 60cm by 33cm.

The Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover‘s RIMFAX has two main components: the antenna and the electronic unit (EU). The RIMFAX’s radar antenna is located on the lower back rear of the Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover and facing down the cold ground. With a frequency range from 150 to 1200 MHz, the vertical resolution theoretically can go from 3 inches to 12 inches, or 15 cm to 30 cm, thick. Our Perseverance Mars Rover Replica will perfectly the appearance structure of the antenna but it will not the actual function that the real Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover‘s RIMFAX’s antenna has. 

The Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover‘s RIMFAX’s EU is located inside of the Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover’s left aft tower. The environment of the EU is thermally controlled, unlike the antenna. Since this is the first radar ever sent to Mars by NASA, the underground composition is unknown. Therefore, the RIMFAX is designed to be programable after each sounding is taken. EU has three components: the DC/DC converter board, data control board, and RF(radio frequency) analog board. Because the Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover‘s RIMFAX’s EU is inside of the body structure, and you cannot really see it from the outside, we might not replicate it for our Perseverance Mars Rover Replica, or we might replicate it after everything else is completed.  

Unlike the Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover‘s MOXIE, which consumes around 30% of the Perseverance Mars Rover’s power each time it runs, the Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover‘s RIMFAX only consumes around 5W for a normal traverse. It has two states: idle and sounding. When in the idle state, RIMFAX only communicates and receives signals. When RIMFAX is set to the sounding state, the power supply is then switched on and RIMFAX will start working. Our 1:2 Perseverance Mars Rover Replica‘ RIMFAX does not have the actual function like the real Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover‘s RIMFAX, but we may design it so that it will have other functions such as being able to light up in the dark. Therefore, Perseverance Mars Rover Replica‘ RIMFAX might also consume power.  

The Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover‘s RIMFAX will image the shallow surface under the Martian surface while the Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover is traveling with an interval of 4 inches, or 10 cm to provide information about the subsurface composition of the site. By penetrating the ground surface, the Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover‘s RIMFAX is able to detect ice, water, or salty water (brines) with a depth of over 30 feet, or 10 meters, but with a subsurface condition that is very good for radar wave propagation, the soundings can go deeper than 30 feet. Studying what’s beneath the Martian surface can help discover Mars’ past life (if there was any), past waters, past rock formation, and many other materials underneath the surface of the red planet.

If you are interested in our 1:2 Perseverance Mars Rover Replica, you may check out our 1:2 Perseverance Mars Rover Replica Design and Building Diary.

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Science Instrument of Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover

MOXIE of the Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover – part 2

Even though the Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover itself cost around 2.7 billion dollars to build, the value MOXIE will produce and the experiences that will be gained are far more than that. As mentioned before, the Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover‘s MOXIE’s goal is not only to make oxygen for humans to breathe but also potentially to help with burning rocket fuel. This ensures that astronauts can come back to Earth from Mars (if human exploration on Mars becomes possible one day). Oxygen tanks are always the heaviest items on a spacecraft. If the Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover‘s MOXIE is successful and scientists can see that in the future more and larger MOXIE instruments will make enough oxygen on Mars and store it into tanks, it will save countless resources and money for space missions.

The Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover‘s MOXIE can produce oxygen at a rate of up to 10 g/h. To make it more realizable for us, this can support a puppy to live. But for humans, we will need the rate to go up to 20 to 30 g/h. For the time being, it only runs for one hour each time as instructed. The Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover‘s MOXIE is only a prototype to run trial tests to make oxygen. In the future, around 20 years from now, a full-size MOXIE is expected to be built for Mars human exploration missions, and the oxygen rate will be needed is around 2000 to 3000 g/h, which is about 200 times more than the MOXIE on Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover can so now. Even though MOXIE now cannot produce a big amount of oxygen due to lack of sufficient space and power, nor can it store the oxygen produced, needless to say, this is a necessary start.

There are three main components for the Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover‘s MOXIE: sensor panel assembly, scroll compressor, and the SOXE(Solid Oxide Electrolyzer) assembly. MOXIE will collect carbon dioxide from the Martian atmosphere and then get rid of the unwanted particles by a filter. We might or might not make the MOXIE replica for our 1:2 Perseverance Mars Rover

Since the Martian atmosphere is around 170 times thinner compared to Earth, if letting the air at ambient pressure enter the reactive core, it won’t make enough oxygen. Therefore, the Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover‘s MOXIE will need to compress the air by itself in order to have a high carbon dioxide density. The compressor will compress the filtered air to a pressure level similar to Earth’s pressure. Then a process called electrolysis will split the carbon dioxide into oxygen and carbon monoxide by heat and electricity at 800 Celsius, or 1472 Fahrenheit. At the same time, since the electrochemical reaction is running at such a high temperature, a very sophisticated insulating system is protecting all the equipment from being damaged by the heat. The final step is to measure the amount, the purity of the oxygen and calculate the efficiency of the system before releasing the oxygen into the Martian atmosphere.

Since the Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover‘s MOXIE instrument is located inside of the rover’s body and you cannot really it from the outside unless you open it up, we may or may not replicate it. If we do make a MOXIE replica for our 1:2 Perseverance replica in the future, we will replicate the appearance structure, but not the functions, so you won’t need to worry about it getting too hot like the real Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover.

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Science Instrument of Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover

MOXIE of the Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover Part 1

Mars’ atmosphere has around 96% carbon dioxide and there is only 0.13% oxygen. Therefore, it is not suitable for humans to breathe. To find out if it is possible for human exploration on Mars, one of the most important things is to figure out how to make oxygen, not only for humans to breathe but also for helping with burning rocket fuel. The Mars 2020 Perseverance rover‘s MOXIE (short for the Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment) is the instrument that will make oxygen from Mars’ atmosphere. It is like an artificial plant, breathing in carbon dioxide and breathing out oxygen (also some byproducts such as carbon monoxide).

The Mars 2020 Perseverance rover‘s MOXIE instrument is located on the inside of the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover‘s right front belly. It has a mass of 17.1 kg, but due to different gravitational forces between Earth and Mars, MOXIE weighs 37.7 lbs on Earth but 14.14 lbs on Mars. The Perseverance Mars Rover’s MOXIE is expected to operate its first mission within 30 sols after it lands on Mars and passes all the health checkups.

The Mars 2020 Perseverance rover‘s MOXIE is inside of the rover’s body, and you cannot see it from the outside, so our 1:2 Perseverance Mars Rover Replica might not replicate it, or we will replicate it after all the other components are completed. If we do replicate the PMars 2020 Perseverance rover‘s MOXIE instrument, our Mars Rover replica‘s MOXIE will not actually make oxygen, but the appearance structure will be replicated.

Interestingly, the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover‘s MOXIE has 2 microphones so we can hear it making oxygen on Earth. The reason for the microphones is because MOXIE runs by a motor. By listening to the motor running, engineers will know MOXIE is working. Even though our 1:2 Perseverance Mars Rover Replica might not replicate the MOXIE instrument, we may add a speaker inside of the Mars Rover Replica‘s body and make the motor running sound effects to simulate the MOXIE’s working sound.

The Mars 2020 Perseverance rover‘s MOXIE instrument only has a size of a car battery but once it is operating. If we replicate it on our Perseverance Mars Rover replica, it will be half the size of the real Mars 2020 Perseverance rover‘s MOXIE. When operating, the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover‘s MOXIE will use up to around 30% of the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover‘s power, and the heat generated will be so hot that the scientists had to insulate it. Otherwise, the instrument on board or even the whole of Mars 2020 Perseverance rover will get damaged. However, how hot it will get or how much voltage will be used are still to be found out during real operations on Mars.