Adaptive Oxygen Production of the Mars Oxygen ISRU Experiment (MOXIE) though Feedback Control of Pressure Sensor 4

Abstract

The Mars Oxygen ISRU Experiment (MOXIE) has demonstrated the ability of a system to produce Oxygen on the surface of Mars by means of Solid Oxide Electrolysis from atmospheric Carbon Dioxide. This work builds on the mission goals of MOXIE, which runs only intermittently and with much manual planning for each run, to develop control algorithms that will lay the foundation for fully autonomous and continuous functionality of future systems. Through modeling and experimentation on the MOXIE FlatSat system at MIT Haystack Observatory, the robustness of the pressure sensor feedback control loop was validated. The maximum Oxygen production rate achieved during the investigation was 6.07 grams per hour.