(CNN) On April 20, after two months on Mars, NASA's Perseverance rover performed a magic trick: it produced breathable oxygen out of thin air. An instrument called MOXIE (the Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment) used electricity to split a small amount of the carbon dioxide of Mars' tenuous atmosphere into pure oxygen and carbon monoxide. Because in addition to being essential for human life, oxygen can be rocket fuel. Any trip to Mars is a long one. Most likely, Mars explorers will need to spend most of their time living underground to reduce the chance of radiation sickness or cancer.

Source: CNN May 11, 2021 17:48 UTC