A new technological breakthrough may bring a long-held ambition closer to reality: establishing a permanent human base on the Moon. Scientists have developed a technique to extract water, oxygen, hydrogen and carbon monoxide directly from lunar soil, which could turn the Moon into a local \u201csupply center\u201d for human operations in space.<\/p>\n
Solving Space\u2019s Costliest Logistics Problem<\/p>\n
Transporting basic life-sustaining materials like water, oxygen, and fuel from Earth to the Moon is prohibitively expensive. A study published in Joule<\/a> reveals it costs approximately $83,000 to send a single gallon of water by rocket. With daily astronaut water needs ranging from one to four gallons, the cumulative cost of maintaining a human presence in space escalates rapidly.<\/p>\n To reduce this burden, researchers have looked inward\u2014at the Moon itself. Its surface soil, or regolith<\/a>, contains traces of water. But until now, extracting it involved multiple energy-intensive steps that made the process impractical. <\/p>\n Harnessing The Moon\u2019s Natural Potential<\/p>\n Lu Wang and his team at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, have created a method that utilizes both lunar soil and exhaled carbon dioxide from astronauts. Their system can extract water from the Moon\u2019s soil while simultaneously transforming exhaled CO\u2082 into carbon monoxide and hydrogen\u2014key ingredients in producing fuel and oxygen.<\/p>\n \u201cWe never fully imagined the \u2018magic\u2019 that the lunar soil possessed,\u201d said Wang in a public statement. The integrated process not only meets multiple survival needs but could eliminate the logistical nightmare of shuttling vast amounts of resources from Earth.<\/p>\n Using Sunlight To Fuel Lunar Chemistry<\/p>\n The team tested their technology using real lunar soil samples from China\u2019s Chang\u2019E mission, along with simulated materials. By leveraging the Moon\u2019s abundant solar energy, they heated samples in a batch reactor filled with carbon dioxide, triggering the chemical processes needed to extract and convert vital substances. According to Wang, \u201cthe biggest surprise for us was the tangible success of this integrated approach.\u201d<\/p>\n