It May Be Possible to Produce Oxygen and Fuel from Lunar Soil

The interest in studies in the field of space is increasing day by day. In addition to space travel for scientific and exploratory purposes, space travel is now moving towards a more commercial realm where ordinary people who print ‘a bit of money’ will also experience it. As such, in the space environment our living and what we need to go into space fuel The need for resources that will provide

According to a new study led by scientists in China, the soil on the Moon’s surface contains carbon dioxide. convertible to oxygen and fuels contains active compounds. Researchers are now investigating whether lunar resources could be used to facilitate human space exploration on the Moon or beyond.

It may be possible to produce oxygen and fuel with lunar soil

Nanjing University materials scientists Yingfang Yao and Zhigang Zou are the two most abundant resources on the Moon. Lunar soil and solar radiation It aims to design a system that uses Analyzing the lunar soil brought back by China’s Chang’e 5 spacecraft, the research team found that the sample in question contains certain substances, including iron and titanium-rich substances, which can act as a catalyst to produce desired products such as oxygen using sunlight and carbon dioxide. compounds reports that they have detected that it contains.

Starting from these observations, the team developed a sort of “extraterrestrial photosynthesis” strategy proposal. According to the system in question, it seems possible that the lunar soil could be used to electrolyze water extracted from the Moon and astronauts’ respiratory exhaust into oxygen and hydrogen powered by sunlight. Carbon dioxide exhaled by astronauts on the Moon is also collected during this process and can be combined with hydrogen from water electrolysis during a hydrogenation process catalyzed by the lunar soil.

Also, during the process can be used as fuel Hydrocarbons such as methane can also be obtained. Their strategy is to set up a base on the Moon with nothing but sunlight to produce products such as water, oxygen, and fuel needed to support life. Does not use external energy source indicating team; plans to test its systems in space during China’s future crewed lunar missions.

There is also a video on how the process is done.

A sustainable and affordable extraterrestrial habitat

In his statement on the subject, the rocket load of his systems minimize Yao, who stated that he benefited from the resources in the environment on his behalf, “Our strategy is sustainable and affordable presents a scenario for an extraterrestrial habitat” saves as. In addition, Yao states that although the catalytic efficiency of lunar soil is less than that of Earth, the team tested different approaches to refine the design, such as adding the lunar soil to a nanostructured high-entropy material that is a better catalyst.

Yao stated that we will witness the rapid development of the crewed space flight industry in the very near future.“There is something like the ‘Age of Sailing’ in the 1600s, when hundreds of ships sailed. ‘Space Age’we will enter. But if we want to do large-scale exploration of the extraterrestrial world, ways to reduce the burdenso we will need to consider relying on as little material from Earth as possible and using extraterrestrial sources instead,” he adds.