Latest news with #Chinese researchers
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Science
- Yahoo
Chinese Scientists Invent System for Extracting Oxygen, Water and Rocket Fuel From Moon Dust
Chinese researchers say they've devised a new way to extract water from lunar soil and convert it into fuel. As detailed in a new paper published today in the journal Joule, the team found that their proposed "photothermal strategy" — essentially converting light into heat — could effectively convert carbon dioxide from extracted water into carbon monoxide, hydrogen, and oxygen gas, a "potential route for sustaining human life on the Moon and enabling long-term extraterrestrial exploration." "The sustainable utilization of local resources is essential for long-term human survival on the Moon and beyond," the researchers write, pointing out that bringing water from Earth is cost-prohibitive at roughly $83,000 per gallon. "We never fully imagined the 'magic' that the lunar soil possessed," said Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen professor and coauthor Lu Wang in a statement. "The biggest surprise for us was the tangible success of this integrated approach," he added. "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." While plenty of questions remain about our future efforts to harness local resources on the surface of the Moon, it's a glimmer of hope that humanity could indeed establish a more permanent and potentially sustainable presence there. For their research, the team focused on simplifying existing proposals for how to extract water from lunar regolith, which tend to be energy-intensive and stop short of breaking the water down into its usable elements. The researchers also propose using the extracted water to turn carbon dioxide exhaled by astronauts into carbon monoxide and hydrogen gas, which could be used to make fuels. The team tested their photothermal approach on actual Moon samples gathered during China's Chang'E-5 mission, which launched in November 2020, and collected samples from the northwest of the Moon's near side before returning to Earth. While their lab-based experiments turned out to be a success, the actual lunar surface will likely prove a far more challenging place to extract and convert lunar water. As the paper points out, radiation, low gravity, and extreme temperature fluctuations could complicate matters significantly. However, the advancements highlight how far the Chinese space program has come in a matter of years. A mere two decades ago, China was a distant underdog in the international space race. But now that the country is launching its own astronauts to space while the Trump administration is effectively looking to eviscerate NASA when it comes to space science, China could stand a chance to surpass the US in its plans to build a Moon base by 2035. More on extracting lunar water: Chinese Scientists Extract Water From Lunar Soil Solve the daily Crossword
South China Morning Post
6 days ago
- Science
- South China Morning Post
How a heat-seeking beetle inspired infrared tech that could aid Chinese defence
After spending years studying advanced infrared sensors, a group of Chinese researchers has produced a device that could be used to build a surveillance network more powerful and effective than the proposed US missile defence system known as the ' Golden Dome '. The Chinese technology, which is capable of unprecedented detection speeds 20,000 times faster than conventional technology, was inspired by nature's most sensitive heat seeker – the fire beetle. Infrared sensing technology is vital for detecting objects in challenging settings where smoke, fog or dust may obscure conditions. It provides clear imaging and accurate detection by penetrating these obstacles, making it essential for use in military and industrial applications. Biological systems are also capable of perceiving motion in complex settings with minimal processing, inspiring new designs for optoelectronic devices. The fire beetle, for instance, is equipped with a specialised pit organ on its thorax, allowing the insect to detect faint infrared radiation from forest fires hundreds of kilometres away even while flying at high speeds, an accuracy that surpasses the sensitivity of most commercial infrared detectors. This unique organ evolved for reproduction: the residual heat from wildfires provides the necessary conditions for larvae to hatch from their thick-walled eggs, after which they feed on charred tree bark.
South China Morning Post
12-07-2025
- Science
- South China Morning Post
A year after China returns rocks from moon's far side, debate rages over ancient crater
A year after China returned the first rock samples from the moon's far side, scientists are debating whether the mission has answered a central question in lunar science – and whether the country's rising scientific dominance is challenging who gets to tell the story of the moon's past While a team of Chinese researchers believes they may have nailed down the age of the moon's largest and oldest crater – a colossal impact basin that could hold clues to the early solar system – other scientists, mostly from the West, remain unconvinced. Some say the ancient rocks may have come from a different impact and were tossed to the landing site. Others suggest the rocks may not have come from an impact at all, but from magma that cooled slowly underground. 'I don't think the 4.25-billion-year age is 100 per cent certain, but it's the most credible number we have so far – more reliable than model-based crater counting or meteorites with unknown origins,' said planetary scientist Yang Wei of the Institute of Geology and Geophysics in Beijing. 'It's based on the only direct evidence we've ever collected and measured from the South Pole-Aitken (SPA) basin,' said Yang, who was not directly involved in the study but coordinates a nationwide research effort that gave select teams early access to samples from the Chinese lunar mission Chang'e‑6. The findings, which he described as the most important among a collection of five papers submitted to the journal Nature for peer review last September, were rejected twice by a review panel dominated by Western scientists.
