NASA produced oxygen from lunar dirt!

Space is defined as a planet of obscurity that has been in the focus of attention of humanity for centuries. Countries like America and Russia have been to the Moon countless times. The researchers, who took many test kits with them, wanted to make the Moon a new Earth for humanity by searching for signs of life on the Moon. However, there are several difficulties with this. One of them is oxygen. According to the latest news, the oxygen problem seems to have been solved. Here are the details about the production of oxygen from the lunar dirt…

NASA produced oxygen from lunar dirt!

In a breakthrough step towards producing oxygen on the Moon, NASA extracted oxygen from simulated lunar soil in a so-called “dirty” chamber with conditions similar to the Moon’s environment. NASA announced Tuesday that during a recent test at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, scientists have been able to generate oxygen from soil in a vacuum environment for the first time.

The soil on the Moon contains compounds that have the potential to produce oxygen thanks to radiation from the Sun. To test this, a team of scientists from NASA’s Carbothermal Reduction Demonstration (CaRD) produced fine-grained soil to simulate the material covering the Moon’s surface.

NASA used a high-power laser that simulated heat from a solar concentrator (similar to magnifying glasses) and then melted the simulated lunar soil. After the ground was heated, the scientists detected carbon monoxide using the Lunar Process Observing Mass Spectrometer (MSolo), an instrument designed to aid in the search for water on the Moon.

The final test was conducted inside a special 15-foot-wide spherical chamber known as the Dirty Thermal Vacuum Chamber, which recreates conditions similar to those found on the Moon. Aaron Paz, NASA senior engineer and CaRD project manager, said: “This technology has the potential to generate several times its own weight in oxygen on the lunar surface each year, enabling a sustainable human existence and economy on the Moon.”

The process of heating the soil and extracting oxygen took place inside a carbothermal reactor, a device that uses high temperatures to produce carbon monoxide, or carbon dioxide, on Earth to create items like solar panels and steel, according to NASA. In addition, with this test, the reactor was used for the first time in a lunar-like chamber, proving that the reactor can actually operate in the lunar environment.

Creating oxygen on the Moon could help support lunar habitats for future astronauts, as NASA and other space agencies work to create a sustainable presence on and around the surface of the Earth satellite. Of course, this will also help the lunar colony project, which is planned to be established in the future.

So what do you think about the production of oxygen with lunar dirt? We are waiting your comments!