MOXIE builds on an earlier experiment, the Mars In-situ propellant production Precursor (MIP), which was designed and built to fly on the Mars Surveyor 2001 Lander mission.[6] MIP was intended to demonstrate In-Situ Propellant Production (ISPP) on the laboratory scale using electrolysis of carbon dioxide to produce oxygen.[7] The MIP flight demonstration was postponed when the Mars Surveyor 2001 lander mission was cancelled following the failure of the Mars Polar Lander mission.[8][9]