MOXIE: Mars OXygen ISRU Experiment

Operating on NASA’s Mars2020 Perseverance rover between February 2021 and September 2023, the MOXIE experiment (Mars OXygen ISRU Experiment) produced oxygen at night and in the day during both the annual maximum and minimum atmospheric density periods, as well as at many other times during the year. MOXIE is the first demonstration of the use of indigenous resources (ISRU = In Situ Resource Utilization) on the surface of another planet. This talk will present a summary of what MOXIE has accomplished, with an emphasis on what has been learned from MOXIE about operating future solid oxide electrolysis systems on Mars.

Dr. Jeffrey Hoffman is a professor in MIT’s Aeronautics and Astronautics Department. He received a BA in Astronomy (summa cum laude) from Amherst College (1966); a PhD in Astrophysics from Harvard University (1971); and an MSc in Materials Science from Rice University (1988). As a NASA astronaut (1978-1997) he made five space flights, becoming the first astronaut to log 1000 hours of flight time aboard the Space Shuttle. Dr. Hoffman was Payload Commander of STS-46, the first flight of the US-Italian Tethered Satellite System. He has performed four spacewalks, including the first unplanned, contingency spacewalk in NASA’s history (STS 51D; April, 1985) and the initial repair/rescue mission for the Hubble Space Telescope (STS 61; December, 1993). As the Astronaut Office representative for EVA, he helped develop and carry out tests of advanced high-pressure space suit designs and of new tools and procedures needed for the assembly of the International Space Station. Following his astronaut career, Dr. Hoffman spent four years as NASA’s European Representative, working at the U.S. Embassy in Paris. In August 2001, Dr. Hoffman joined the MIT faculty, where he teaches courses on space operations and space systems design. His primary research interests are in improving the technology of space suits and designing innovative space systems for human and robotic space exploration. Dr. Hoffman is director of the Massachusetts Space Grant Consortium, responsible for space-related educational activities. He is Deputy Principal Investigator of the MOXIE experiment on NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance mission, which for the first time has produced oxygen from extraterrestrial material, a critical step in the future of human space exploration. In 2007, Dr. Hoffman was elected to the US Astronaut Hall of Fame.