For astronauts to survive on the moon, they’ll need three essential resources: water, oxygen, and fuel. These resources have been an integral part of plans to build permanent moon bases, which have been brewing for years. Life on the moon may be within reach before long, thanks to new technology that can extract water from lunar soil and produce vital ingredients for fuel.
A study recently published in Joule explains how the technology can successfully extract water from soil samples and use it to convert carbon dioxide into oxygen and chemicals for fuel. This advancement could enhance the prospects of survival on the Moon, all while avoiding the challenges associated with transporting resources.
The Search for Lunar Water
Chang’E-5 lunar soil sitting at the bottom of a photothermal reactor.
(Image Credit: Sun et al.)
Human settlement on the Moon will rely on the existence of lunar water, which is like liquid gold for scientists who have been in hot pursuit of the precious resource. Fortunately, several sources of lunar water have been discovered in recent years; the water is mostly embedded in ice that exists in permanently shadowed craters at the Moon’s poles, but evidence has also been found elsewhere in mineral grains and glass beads that formed from asteroid collisions.
Promising news arrived at the end of 2020, when the China National Space Administration’s Chang’e 5 lunar exploration mission successfully returned lunar soil samples to Earth. Since then, scientists have identified traces of OH (hydroxyl contents) and molecular H20 in the samples, yet they haven’t figured out the exact distribution of water on the Moon.
Scientists are also still trying to decipher the origins of lunar water, floating two prevailing theories. One is that comets and asteroids imparted the water they were carrying when they crashed onto the Moon. Lunar water may have also originated from solar wind implantation, in which hydrogen ions in solar wind hit the Moon and generate OH or H20 in the soil.
Read More: The Water on the Moon May Trace Back to Early Earth — and Comets
Helping Astronauts Survive on the Moon
Normally, supplying a moon base with water would be a costly operation. According to a press statement on the new study, “a single gallon of water costs about $83,000 to ship by rocket…with each astronaut drinking about four gallons per day.”
But with the new technology built by researchers, this may no longer be a concern. The researchers say that previous methods of extracting water from lunar soil were energy-intensive, contained too many steps, and couldn’t reliably break down carbon dioxide for fuel.
Aiming to raise efficiency, the researchers developed a process that uses photothermal activity, converting light into heat. They tested the method with lunar soil samples from the Chang’E 5 mission, along with simulated lunar samples. To facilitate the photothermal process, they relied on a batch reactor filled with C02 gas that used a light-concentrating system.
The photothermal technology simultaneously extracted water from the samples and converted C02 into carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrogen gas, ingredients that could be used to make fuels and oxygen for astronauts to breathe.
“We never fully imagined the ‘magic’ that the lunar soil possessed,” said author Lu Wang of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen. “The biggest surprise for us was the tangible success of this integrated approach. The one-step integration of lunar H2O extraction and photothermal CO2 catalysis could enhance energy utilization efficiency and decrease the cost and complexity of infrastructure development.”
The Challenges That Remain
Although the photothermal technology has been a success here on Earth, the researchers say there are still potential limitations that could hinder its use on the moon. Factors like drastic temperature fluctuations, intense radiation, and low gravity may pose a challenge for water extraction.
To make life on the moon a reality, the researchers say that tackling the technical challenges and development costs for water extraction will be a necessity moving forward.
Read More: Reconsidering the Origins of Water Found on the Moon
Article Sources
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Jack Knudson is an assistant editor at Discover with a strong interest in environmental science and history. Before joining Discover in 2023, he studied journalism at the Scripps College of Communication at Ohio University and previously interned at Recycling Today magazine
