Chinese Scientists Develop Breakthrough Method to Extract Oxygen and Water from Moon Soil

In a significant advancement that could reshape the future of lunar exploration, Chinese scientists have successfully developed a method to extract water from Moon soil and convert it into oxygen and fuel-making chemicals. This innovation could drastically reduce the need to transport critical life-support resources from Earth to the Moon.

The findings, published on July 16 in the scientific journal Joule by Cell Press, highlight a promising step toward establishing sustainable life-support systems on the lunar surface — a longstanding hurdle in enabling long-term human missions to the Moon.

“We never fully anticipated the remarkable capabilities hidden within lunar soil,” said Lu Wang, a researcher from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen. Wang and his team were particularly surprised by how effectively their method integrated water extraction from Moon dust with a photothermal catalyst that uses sunlight to convert carbon dioxide (exhaled by astronauts) into oxygen and chemical precursors for fuel — all in a single process.

“This innovation significantly boosts energy efficiency while simplifying the design of lunar infrastructure,” Wang added.

One of the biggest obstacles to building a Moon base has been the enormous cost of transporting basic necessities like water and fuel from Earth. Current estimates place the cost of sending just one gallon of water to the Moon at around $83,000, making long-term colonization financially and logistically impractical.

This new approach, however, opens the door to self-sustaining habitats on the Moon by tapping into the resources already available in lunar regolith — a step closer to making human life beyond Earth a reality.

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