News > NASA’s Perseverance rover split CO2 to make breathable air on Mars

NASA’s Perseverance rover split CO2 to make breathable air on Mars

NASA’s Perseverance rover just created a breath of fresh air on Mars.

An experimental device on the rover split carbon dioxide molecules into their component parts, creating about 10 minutes’ worth of breathable oxygen. It was also enough oxygen to make tiny amounts of rocket fuel. The instrument, called MOXIE (Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment), is about the size of a toaster.