Engineers continue to look for ways to provide astronauts on the Moon with everything they need. They recently developed a technology that allows oxygen to be extracted from regolith. All that is needed is sunlight.
Technology for producing oxygen from lunar soil
NASA’s Carbon Thermal Reduction Demonstration (CaRD) project has completed an important milestone in utilizing local resources to support human exploration on the Moon. Its goal is to provide astronauts on the Moon with everything they need to live, using only the resources that are already there.
The CaRD team conducted integrated prototype testing using concentrated solar energy to extract oxygen from simulated lunar soil, while simultaneously confirming the production of carbon monoxide through a solar-driven chemical reaction.
If deployed on the Moon, this technology could enable fuel production using only lunar materials and sunlight, significantly reducing the cost and complexity of sustaining long-term human presence on the lunar surface. The same support systems used to convert carbon monoxide into oxygen can be adapted to convert carbon dioxide into oxygen and methane on Mars.
What does the oxygen extraction system include?
This technology is currently at the working prototype stage. It combines an oxygen production reactor developed by Sierra Space, a solar concentrator designed by NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, precision mirrors manufactured by Composite Mirror Applications, and avionics, software, and gas analysis systems from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston led project management, engineering systems, testing, and development of key equipment and ground support systems. This means that the new project is far from being an idea detached from the real capabilities of the American space program, but rather a truly viable option. It only remains to test it in lunar conditions.
According to phys.org
