On the red and dusty surface of Mars, nearly 100 million miles from Earth, an instrument the size of a lunchbox is proving it can reliably do the work of a small tree.

The MIT-led Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment, or MOXIE, has been successfully making oxygen from the Red Planet's carbon-dioxide-rich atmosphere since February 2021, when it touched down on the Martian surface as part of NASA's Perseverance rover mission.

In a study published in the journal Science Advances, researchers report that, by the end of 2021, MOXIE was able to produce oxygen on seven experimental runs, in a variety of atmospheric conditions, including during the day and night, and through different Martian seasons. In each run, the instrument reached its target of producing six grams of oxygen per hour—about the rate of a modest tree on Earth.

Researchers envision that a scaled-up version of MOXIE could be sent to Mars ahead of a human mission, to continuously produce oxygen at the rate of several hundred trees. At that capacity, the system should generate enough oxygen to both sustain humans once they arrive, and fuel a rocket for returning astronauts back to Earth.

There's a new, immersive way to explore some of the first full-color infrared images and data from NASA's JWST—through sound. Listeners can enter the complex soundscape of the Cosmic Cliffs in the Carina Nebula, explore the contrasting tones of two images that depict the Southern Ring Nebula, and identify the individual data points in a transmission spectrum of hot gas giant exoplanet WASP-96 b.

A team of scientists—including Kim Arcand of the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian—musicians, and a member of the blind and visually impaired community worked to adapt JWST's data, with support from the JWST mission and NASA's Universe of Learning.

"Music taps into our emotional centers," says Matt Russo, a musician and physics professor at the University of Toronto. "Our goal is to make Webb's images and data understandable through sound—helping listeners create their own mental images."

These audio tracks support blind and low-vision listeners first, but are designed to be captivating to anyone who tunes in.

"These compositions provide a different way to experience the detailed information in Webb's first data.