Mars Oxygen ISRU Experiment (MOXIE)

Hecht, M. H.; Hoffman, Jeffrey A.; Rapp, Donald; McClean, John; Soohoo, Jason; Schaefer, Robert; Aboobaker, Asad M.; Mellstrom, J.; Hartvigsen, Joseph; Meyen, Forrest; Hinterman, Eric D.; Voecks, Gerald E.; Liu, A.; Nasr, Maya; Lewis, John S.; Johnson, Joel A.; Guernsey, Carl S.; Swoboda, John; Eckert, Chris; Alcalde, Celia López; Poirier, Michael; Khopkar, Piyush; Elangovan, S.; Madsen, M. B.; Smith, Peter H.; Graves, Christopher R.; Sanders, Gerald B.; Araghi, Koorosh; Juárez, Manuel de la Torre; Larsen, Dennis; Agui, Juan H.; Burns, A. G.; Lackner, Klaus S.; Nielsen, Robin Vinther; Pike, Tom; Tata, B.; Wilson, K. R.; Brown, Travis L.; Disarro, Thomas P.; Morris, R. V.; Steinkraus, Ronald E.; Surampudi, Rao; Werne, Thomas A.; Ponce, Adrian

doi:10.1007/s11214-020-00782-8

Cited by 76 publications

(51 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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“…The SuperCam microphone dataset used in this study extends from Sol 1 to Sol 216, when the first solar conjunction of the mission occurred. At this date, a total of 4 h and 40 min of Martian sounds have been recorded, including atmospheric turbulence (46% of the total duration), the accompanying pressure waves of LIBS sparks (12%) and mechanical noises (for example, MOXIE 43 , Ingenuity 33 , mast rotation of Perseverance, Mastcam-Z mechanisms, 42%). In the same period, the EDL 15 microphone has recorded a total of 56 min of Martian sounds, mainly during rover operations (for example, rover drive, arm motion).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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In situ recording of Mars soundscape

Maurice

Chide

Murdoch

et al. 2022

Nature

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Before the Perseverance rover landing, the acoustic environment of Mars was unknown. Models predicted that: (1) atmospheric turbulence changes at centimetre scales or smaller at the point where molecular viscosity converts kinetic energy into heat1, (2) the speed of sound varies at the surface with frequency2,3 and (3) high-frequency waves are strongly attenuated with distance in CO2 (refs. 2–4). However, theoretical models were uncertain because of a lack of experimental data at low pressure and the difficulty to characterize turbulence or attenuation in a closed environment. Here, using Perseverance microphone recordings, we present the first characterization of the acoustic environment on Mars and pressure fluctuations in the audible range and beyond, from 20 Hz to 50 kHz. We find that atmospheric sounds extend measurements of pressure variations down to 1,000 times smaller scales than ever observed before, showing a dissipative regime extending over five orders of magnitude in energy. Using point sources of sound (Ingenuity rotorcraft, laser-induced sparks), we highlight two distinct values for the speed of sound that are about 10 m s−1 apart below and above 240 Hz, a unique characteristic of low-pressure CO2-dominated atmosphere. We also provide the acoustic attenuation with distance above 2 kHz, allowing us to explain the large contribution of the CO2 vibrational relaxation in the audible range. These results establish a ground truth for the modelling of acoustic processes, which is critical for studies in atmospheres such as those of Mars and Venus.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The MOXIE instrument 43 operates every 1–2 months to produce a few grams of gaseous O 2 . The primary objective of these repeated operations is to look for possible degradation of the O 2 production efficiency associated with the harsh environment of Mars.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

In situ recording of Mars soundscape

Maurice

Chide

Murdoch

et al. 2022

Nature

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“…Processes with chemoorganoheterotrophic organisms using soluble substrates can achieve high productivities and allow for streamlined process design. The utilization of a defined feedstock also has the advantage of more consistent and predictable process performance, which 1 Chemical synthesis of methane (I) via coupling of water-electrolysis or sulphur-iodine cycle and Sabatier reaction: "2 H 2 O+ CO 2 → 2 O 2 + CH 4 " (Clark, 1997;Ying et al, 2017) (II) as a by-product of solid oxide electrolysis followed by methanation: (Biswas et al, 2020;Hecht et al, 2021) can be problematic when using crude biomass like e.g., cyanobacterial lysate. A basic overview of the different options for carbon-flow is presented in Figure 1 and Table 1 gives an indication of the advantages and drawbacks on process-level, depending on the type of metabolism of the deployed microbe.…”

Section: From Autotrophy To Heterotrophy-impact On Process Parameters and Complexitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Choice of Microbial System for In-Situ Resource Utilization on Mars

Averesch

2021

Front. Astron. Space Sci.

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Various microbial systems have been explored for their applicability to in-situ resource utilisation (ISRU) on Mars and suitability to leverage Martian resources and convert them into useful chemical products. Considering only fully bio-based solutions, two approaches can be distinguished, which comes down to the form of carbon that is being utilized: (a) the deployment of specialised species that can directly convert inorganic carbon (atmospheric CO2) into a target compound or (b) a two-step process that relies on independent fixation of carbon and the subsequent conversion of biomass and/or complex substrates into a target compound. Due to the great variety of microbial metabolism, especially in conjunction with chemical support-processes, a definite classification is often difficult. This can be expanded to the forms of nitrogen and energy that are available as input for a biomanufacturing platform. To provide a perspective on microbial cell factories that may be suitable for Space Systems Bioengineering, a high-level comparison of different approaches is conducted, specifically regarding advantages that may help to extend an early human foothold on the red planet.

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“…[1][2][3][4] In addition, SOFCs can be used in reverse as Solid Oxide Electrolysis Cells (SOECs) to store energy, produce chemicals, and/or generate fuels. [4][5][6][7] Unfortunately, high system costs, high operating temperatures, and high degradation rates have complicated the commercial deployment of these Solid Oxide Cells (SOCs). 4 With time however, it seems likely that improved materials will help lower these commercialization barriers.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%