Nasa’s Perseverance rover makes 02 on Mars
From a Us-led virtual climate summit to a Google doodle, here’s how the world marked Earth Day on Thursday
LOS ANGELES: Nasa has logged another extraterrestrial first on its latest mission to Mars: converting carbon dioxide from the Martian atmosphere into pure, breathable oxygen, the US space agency said on Wednesday.
The unprecedented extraction of oxygen, literally out of thin air on Mars, was achieved on Tuesday by an experimental device aboard Perseverance, a six-wheeled science rover that landed on the Red Planet on February 18 after a sevenmonth journey from Earth.
In its first activation, the toaster-sized instrument dubbed MOXIE, short for Mars Oxygen In-situ Resource Utilization Experiment, produced about 5 grams of oxygen, equivalent to roughly 10 minutes’ worth of breathing for an astronaut, Nasa said.
Although the initial output was modest, the feat marked the first experimental extraction of a natural resources from the environment of another planet for direct use by humans.
“MOXIE isn’t just the first instrument to produce oxygen on another world,” Trudy Kortes, director of technology demonstrations within Nasa’s Space Technology Mission
“It’s crucial to include job creation as a part of the foundation for a country’s climate policies. The task is to show that ordinary people can have their living conditions improved because of climate and environmental benefits.” - Mette Frederiksen, Denmark’s Prime Minister
WHAT IS EARTH DAY?
An annual event, held on April 22, to show support for environmental protection. Events are held globally on this day as a coordinated awareness campaign to save the planet.
1970
The first Earth Day was celebrated 51 years back. It was a Us-led drive after an oil spill off the coast of California’s Santa Barbara.
BIDEN’S PLEDGE AND SUMMIT
US President Joe Biden chose the day to announce that the US will cut emissions by 50-52% by 2030. He also virtually hosted 40 world leaders for climate talks.
GOOGLE DOODLE
Google published a doodle on its homepage of a woman reading a book under a tree while her daughter carries a sapling to plant. A video shows people teaching their young ones to plant trees.
GRETA TESTIFIES
Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg testified at a US congressional hearing on subsidies for fossil fuels, which the panel has been pressuring the US government to end.
DALAI LAMA’S CLARION CALL
The Tibetan leader called for a global effort to save the planet, saying problems like depletion of ozone layer can’t be tackled individually.
‘EARTH ANTHEM’
Over 100 poets, musicians, actors, singers and artists from across the world came together virtually to read the celebratory song ‘Earth Anthem’, written by Indian diplomat Abhay Kumar.
40+
Countries have so far rolled out some form of carbon pricing, such as an emissions trading system or carbon tax, to incentivise long-term pro-climate policies