Latest news with #LuWang
Metro
4 days ago
- Science
- Metro
We're another step closer to living on the Moon
It's been 56 years since Neil Armstrong plonked a boot on the Moon and made history. Yet, much to the rest of humanity's annoyance, they haven't followed in his footsteps – literally. The grey, pockmarked orb doesn't exactly scream real estate, but Nasa hopes to build homes for astronauts and civilians on the Moon by 2040. Chinese scientists have suggested that this might not be as far-fetched as it might seem – the soil on the Moon could potentially support life. According to a study, the Chinese University of Hong Kong have invented a way to extract water from the chalky lunar soil. This celestial water is then used to convert carbon dioxide – such as that exhaled by astronauts – into carbon monoxide and hydrogen gas, which can be used to make fuel and oxygen for the astronauts to breathe. Just like on Earth, fuel and food would be costly on the Moon, given how expensive it would be flying up essentials into space. Travelling light is critical to spaceflight, where just one kilogram of supplies can cost well over £74,000 to ship up by rocket. And this includes water, too. The academics estimated that getting a single gallon of water to the Moon would cost £61,000, barely enough to quench the four gallons an astronaut would drink a day. But the researchers say this technology could 'potentially open new doors for future deep space exploration' by eliminating these eye-watering costs. Lead researcher Lu Wang said: 'We never fully imagined the 'magic' that the lunar soil possessed.' Appearances are deceiving when it comes to water on the Moon, where years of being pelted with asteroids and comets have left water on it. Shadowy craters on the lunar poles, known as permanently shadowed regions (PSRs), never see sunshine, meaning there's water ice tucked inside minerals such as ilmenite. The tool developed by the Chinese researchers would involve taking the reoglith – a layer of loose material that blankets solid rock – of ilmenite and heating it using sunlight to release the water. Carbon dioxide is then chucked in, causing the ilmenite to undergo photothermal catalysis – a novel method that uses sunlight to speed up chemical reactions. Wang added in a statement that 'one-step integration of lunar water extraction and photothermal carbon dioxide catalysis' could make efforts to build lunar outposts or Tescos (we assume) more energy efficient. Easier said than done, however, the researchers said, given that 'drastic temperature fluctuations', radiation and low gravity can make harvesting oxygen and water from the land tricky. Nasa's plan to build a colony on the Moon similarly involves making the most of the materials already there. The plan, first reported on in 2023, will involve blasting a 3-D printer into the heavens that will build structures out of lunar concrete created from the rock chips, mineral fragments and dust that cover the Moon. This debris is harmful to humans and is easily kicked up into the air – or rather, the lack of it – as astronauts lumber around in their heavy boots. The first lunar Americans could get some neighbours pretty soon, with South Korea to develop lunar landers by 2040 before building a 'lunar economic base by 2045', according to The Korea Times. Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@ For more stories like this, check our news page. MORE: Longest solar eclipse in 100 years to happen in 2027 – here's where to see it MORE: Astronomers just casually witnessed the birth of a new solar system MORE: France's new rocket Baguette One to go where no baker has gone before
Euronews
5 days ago
- Science
- Euronews
Soil on the Moon could sustain human life, study finds
The soil on the Moon might be able to sustain life, according to a new study. Researchers from the Chinese University of Hong Kong developed a technology to extract water from lunar soil and used it to convert carbon dioxide into oxygen and chemical fuel. The technology does this by converting light from the Sun into heat. According to the study, published in the Cell Press journal Joule, the research could 'potentially open new doors for future deep space exploration' because it could mitigate the expensive costs needed to bring essential resources such as water to the Moon. A single gallon (3.78 litres) of water costs $83,000 (€71,230) to ship up by rocket, the study continued, with one astronaut drinking roughly four gallons (15.14 litres) a day. 'We never fully imagined the 'magic' that the lunar soil possessed,' said lead researcher Lu Wang. However, the study notes that any strategies that are already in place to extract water from the surface of the Moon involve multiple 'energy-intensive' steps and do not break down how much CO2 is used by fuel. The Moon's extreme lunar environment will still make it challenging to harvest more oxygen and water from the land, the study continued, because there are 'drastic temperature fluctuations,' radiation and low gravity to deal with. The CO2 emitted from the breaths of the astronauts won't be enough to supply all the water, fuel and oxygen that the team of astronauts might need.
NDTV
6 days ago
- Science
- NDTV
Soil On The Moon Could Potentially Support Life, Study Claims
In groundbreaking new research, Chinese scientists have suggested that the soil on the Moon could potentially support life, thanks to a breakthrough technology that may help humans survive on the Moon. According to a study published in the journal Joule, researchers were able to extract water from lunar soil and use it to convert carbon dioxide into oxygen and fuel-related chemicals. This innovation could pave the way for deeper space exploration by reducing dependency on Earth for essential resources like water, oxygen, and fuel. "We never fully imagined the 'magic' that the lunar soil possessed," Lu Wang of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, said. "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 utilisation efficiency and decrease the cost and complexity of infrastructure development," Lu Wang added, per In the past, space agencies have floated the idea of using the Moon as an outpost for far-flung explorations of the cosmos. But this might only be possible if experts are able to make the necessary fuel, water and other resources on the Moon itself. The Chinese researchers pointed out that studies have shown that transporting supplies from Earth to any future moon base would be expensive because the greater the mass of cargo, the harder a rocket has to work to launch into space. Citing one of the studies, they determined that it would cost $83,000 to ship a gallon of water to the Moon, and yet each astronaut would be expected to drink 4 gallons of water per day. Previous attempts to extract water from lunar soil used large amounts of energy and didn't break down CO2 for fuel and other essential uses. But now the new system overcomes those problems, scientists said. The team developed a technology that would both extract water from lunar soil and directly use it to convert the CO2 exhaled by astronauts into carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrogen gas, which could then be used to make fuels and oxygen for the astronauts to breathe. The technology accomplishes this through a novel system that uses light from the Sun and turns it into heat. Researchers said that the technology was a success in the lab. However, they noted that the extreme lunar environment still poses challenges that will complicate its usage on the lunar surface, including drastic temperature fluctuations, intense radiation and low gravity.
Yahoo
18-07-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Scientists extracted water and oxygen from moon dust using sunlight. Could it work on the lunar surface?
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Soil excavated from the moon could be used to produce oxygen and methane, which could be used by lunar settlers for breathing and for rocket fuel. This is the conclusion of a team of scientists from China who have found a one-step method of doing all this. Whether it is economically viable, however, is up for debate. But the Chinese team thinks that it is. "The biggest surprise for us was the tangible success of this integrated approach," said team-member Lu Wang, who is a chemist from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, in a statement. "The one-step integration of lunar water extraction and photothermal carbon dioxide catalysis could enhance energy utilization efficiency and decrease the cost and complexity of infrastructure development." They point out that studies have shown that transporting supplies from Earth to any future moon base would be expensive because the greater the mass of cargo, the harder a rocket has to work to launch into space. Studies have indicated that it would cost $83,000 to transport just one gallon of water from Earth to the moon, and yet each astronaut would be expected to drink 4 gallons of water per day. Fortunately, the moon has plentiful water, although it is not automatically apparent. Brought to the moon by impacts of comets, asteroids and micrometeoroids, and even by the solar wind, water lurks in permanently shadowed craters at the lunar poles, trapped within minerals such as ilmenite. Extracting the water for drinking is relatively easy and there are numerous technologies that describe how this can be done, including heating the regolith by focusing sunlight onto it. However, the Chinese team has been able to take this one step further. "What's novel here is the use of lunar soil as a catalyst to crack carbon dioxide molecules and combine them with extracted water to produce methane," Philip Metzger, a planetary physicist from the University of Central Florida, told Metzger was not involved in the new research, but he is the co-founder of the NASA Kennedy Space Center's 'Swamp Works', a research lab for designing technologies for construction, manufacturing and mining on planetary (and lunar) surfaces. Methane would be more desirable than liquid hydrogen as a potential rocket fuel because it is easier to keep stable, thereby requiring less machinery and less cost to keep on the moon. Liquid methane, when mixed with oxygen as an oxidizer, is a potent rocket fuel. Many commercial companies such as China's Landspace are already launching methane-powered rockets. The water-bearing ilmenite is also a useful catalyst for reacting the water with carbon dioxide to produce oxygen and methane, and the Chinese team have developed a one-step process for doing so. First, they heat the regolith to 392 degrees Fahrenheit (200 degrees Celsius) by focusing sunlight to release the water inside. Then, carbon dioxide such as that which could be breathed out by astronauts is added to the mix, causing the ilmenite to catalyze the reaction between the extracted water and the carbon dioxide. Researchers tested this process, known as photothermal catalysis, in the laboratory using a simulant based on samples of lunar regolith returned to Earth by China's Chang'e 5 mission (the lunar samples are far too previous to destroy in such experiments, which is why a simulant is used instead). While previous technologies have also been able to accomplish this, they required more steps and more machinery, and used a catalyst that would have to be transported up from Earth. This, the research team believe, makes their process more efficient and less expensive than the alternatives. However, Metzger is not wholly confident that it will work. For one thing, lunar regolith is a proficient thermal insulator, so heating a sample all the way through would not be easy. "The heat does not spread effectively deeper into the soil, and this greatly reduces the amount of water that can be produced in a given time," Metzger said. One option could be to 'tumble' the regolith, turning it over repeatedly so that the heat is more evenly applied, but this slows the extraction of water and increases the mechanical complexity of the process. In an environment where lunar dust gets into every nook and cranny, and where temperature fluctuations between night and day can be as great as 482 degrees Fahrenheit (250 Celsius), the risk of breakdown only increases as more moving parts enter the equation. "It may be doable, but more maturation of the technology is needed to show that it is actually competitive," said Metzger. There's also a problem with the application of carbon dioxide, something recognized by both the Chinese team and Metzger. Specifically, there's a question mark over whether astronauts could produce enough carbon dioxide through their normal exhalation. Metzger calculates that astronauts could only provide a tenth of the carbon dioxide required. Alternatively, carbon dioxide could be shuttled up from Earth, but this would rather defeat the purpose of the proposed technique, which was to develop a lot-cost means of obtaining water, oxygen and methane with resources largely already available on the moon. However, in the long-run, perhaps shipping some materials up from Earth will be beneficial. Metzger points out a similar experiment that used an exotic granular catalyst – nickel-on-kieselguhr (kieselguhr is a kind of sedimentary rock) – rather than lunar regolith. Metzger suspects that a material specifically designed to be a catalyst, such as nickel-on-kieselguhr, would be more efficient than lunar regolith. Plus, although it would be expensive to transport from Earth, the nickel-on-kieselguhr can be re-used so you would only need to transport it to the moon once. In a cost-benefit analysis, in the long term it might be more efficient to do this instead. Regardless, the research team has convincingly shown that using lunar regolith as a catalyst to produce fuel and water works. The next step is to show that the technology can be scaled up to sustain a base on the moon more efficiently than other techniques, and that it can operate in lunar conditions where the gravity is weaker, the temperature swings to large extremes, and there is intense radiation from space. "I think these are highly interesting results and there may be additional applications to use lunar soil as a photocatalyst," said Metzger. "More work will be needed to show whether this concept can be economically competitive. I am skeptical, but all good ideas have their detractors and you can never really know until somebody does the work to prove it." RELATED STORIES: — Water mining on the moon may be easier than expected, India's Chandrayaan-3 lander finds — Astronauts could mix moon dust with old satellites to make fuel — Scientists find hydrogen in Apollo moon rocks, suggesting astronauts can harvest lunar water There is certainly no immediate rush for the technology. With NASA's Artemis III mission, which aims to finally return astronauts to the surface of the moon in 2027 at the earliest, and funding made available for Artemis IV and V at some indeterminate time in the future, we're not yet in a position to build a permanent lunar base. However, the Artemis missions are the perfect opportunity to trial some of these technologies and will be greatly important for showing whether we really can live on the moon or not. The research was published on July 16 in the journal Joule. Solve the daily Crossword
International Business Times
17-07-2025
- Science
- International Business Times
Scientists Stunned: Moon Soil May be Able to Support Life – What They Discovered Will Blow Your Mind!
July 17, 2025 13:35 +08 This handout picture provided by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) shows the surface of the moon taken by Moon Impact Probe (MIP), after separating from India's Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft, November 14, 2008. A lunar probe from India's first unmanned moon mission Chandrayaan-1 has landed on the moon and started sending its first images, officials at the Indian Space Research Organisation said on Friday. Picture taken November 14, 2008. REUTERS/Indian Space Research Organisation/Handout INDIA. In a latest study, published in the journal Joule, scientists have claimed that the soil on the Moon could support life. Yes, you read it right! The new paper titled 'Inherent lunar water enabled photothermal CO2 catalysis' actually revealed the breakthrough new technology that could allow humans to survive on the Moon. It might contribute to the widespread optimism, shared by many nations, that humans will be able to remain on the moon for future missions before moving farther into the solar system. Since flying them to the lunar surface might not be feasible, that might only be feasible if we can produce the required fuel, water, and other resources on the Moon itself. A gallon of water, for example, would cost $83,000 to ship to the Moon, and each astronaut would require four of those every day. However, scientists discovered a new technique that would enable the astronauts to obtain the water they require from the lunar soil using samples returned from a Chinese mission to the Moon. The new system solves the issues of previous attempts to do so, which were energy-intensive and failed to break down CO2. Using a new technology that converts solar light into heat, it enables astronauts to draw water from the lunar soil. Lu Wang of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, said, "We never fully imagined the 'magic' that the lunar soil possessed," adding, "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," stated Lu. However, there might still be issues with using it. Extreme temperature fluctuations, low gravity, and irregularities in the lunar surface are just a few of the many difficulties that the Moon's surface presents.
