Innovation
Article

From Michigan Tech to Mars

by
Michigan Technological University
January 4, 2024
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Photo by NASA on Unsplash

Photo by NASA on Unsplash

Summary

MTU Alumnus Jessica Elwell is the COO of OxEon Energy, the company responsible for the design, development and manufacturing of the Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment or MOXIE. The device will play a pivotal role in researching if the Mars atmosphere can produce oxygen for future explorers to breathe and replicate.

Jessica Elwell once sat with her Senior Design team daydreaming about how they could solve all the problems of the world using thermodynamics. Now, she’s actually solving one of those problems by converting carbon dioxide into oxygen and sustainable fuels.

Elwell is chief operating officer of OxEon Energy, which designed, developed and manufactured the solid oxide electrolyzer at the heart of the Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment — or MOXIE. The device was named one of Time magazine’s Best Inventions of 2023.

Elwell remembers the moment she came around the bend in Chassell, Michigan, headed toward her first campus visit and thinking, “Oh, this is home now. This is where I need to be.”

Read the article in full here.

Michigan Technological University
Michigan Technological University

Michigan Technological University is a flagship public research university founded in 1885. Our campus in Michigan's Upper Peninsula overlooks the Keweenaw Waterway and is just a few miles from Lake Superior.

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