Carolyn Johnson of The Boston Globe reports that a device designed by MIT researchers to demonstrate that it is possible to produce oxygen from carbon dioxide in the Martian atmosphere will be included on NASA’s Mars 2020 mission. “When humans go to Mars, we’d like to get them there, but we’d also like to get them home,” explains Dr. Michael Hecht.
Sky News reports that a device developed by Dr. Michael Hecht of MIT to turn carbon dioxide on Mars into breathable oxygen will be included on the rover NASA plans to send to Mars in 2020. The device, “aims to see if Martian air could be converted for astronauts to breathe,” Sky News reports.
“Designed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Mars Oxygen ISRU (in situ research utilization) Experiment (MOXIE) aims to see if Martian air could be converted for astronauts to breathe,” the AFP reports. MOXIE will be one of the systems aboard a robotic vehicle slated to go to Mars in 2020.
The Associated Press reports that MOXIE, an MIT device designed to turn carbon dioxide in the Martian atmosphere into oxygen, will be included on NASA’s Mars 2020 mission. MOXIE will “make about three-quarters of an ounce of oxygen an hour," Dr. Michael Hecht explains.
Wired reporter Klint Finley writes about how a team of MIT and NASA researchers broke the networking speed record from the earth to the moon. “The technology could soon send scientific research data between earth and the moon far more quickly,” Finley explains.
“Researchers at NASA and MIT have figured out how to beam wireless connectivity from a ground base in New Mexico to the moon using telescopes and lasers,” writes Timothy McGrath in a piece posted on Salon.
TIME reporter Bijan Stephen writes about how researchers from MIT and NASA have been testing the effectiveness of using lasers to transmit information to and from the moon.
Space.com’s Katia Moskvitch writes that a team led by MIT Professor Jeffrey Hoffman has suggested new, cost-efficient techniques for establishing gas stations in space. The stations would be used to fuel future missions to the Moon.