03-08-2025
Chinese scientists turn Moon soil into oxygen and water needed for life
In a breakthrough that could transform the future of space exploration, Chinese scientists have developed a technology that can extract water from lunar soil and use it to produce oxygen and chemicals vital for fuel, dramatically reducing the need to transport life-sustaining resources from Earth to the research, published in the Cell Press journal Joule on July 16, demonstrates how lunar resources could be harnessed to create 'miniature life support systems' for astronauts, a challenge that has long hindered plans for a sustained human presence on the never fully imagined the 'magic' that the lunar soil possessed,' said Lu Wang, a researcher at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen. According to Wang, the team's greatest surprise was the 'tangible success' of integrating water extraction from lunar soil with a process that uses light (via a photothermal catalyst) to transform carbon dioxide exhaled by astronauts into oxygen and fuel precursors—all in one step.
'This approach enhances energy utilization efficiency and decreases the complexity of lunar infrastructure,' Wang practical barrier to Moon colonisation remains the immense cost and logistics of shipping water and fuel for astronauts. With a single gallon of water costing about $83,000 to transport from Earth, a lunar base would quickly become analysis of soil from China's Chang'E-5 mission has proven the presence of water-bearing minerals, offering hope that future explorers could tap into these lunar water extraction techniques required several complicated, energy-hungry steps, failing to recycle CO2 for further essentials like fuel. The Chinese team's technology brings new efficiency, using lunar ilmenite—an abundant, water-storing black mineral—and ingenious photothermal reactors to tap both water and sunlight for a simpler, more sustainable challenges remain: the harsh lunar environment, varying soil compositions, intense radiation, and unpredictable temperature swings all pose significant the current technology's efficiency is insufficient to fully support a lunar habitat, and the volume of CO2 from astronaut respiration alone may not meet ongoing demand for water and Chinese team acknowledges that 'overcoming these technical hurdles and significant associated costs in development, deployment, and operation will be crucial to realising sustainable lunar water utilisation and space exploration.'Nonetheless, their work marks a bold step toward making long-term Moon missions—and perhaps eventual space colonies—a closer reality.- EndsMust Watch
