NASA researchers have successfully extracted oxygen from regolith, the lunar soil, in a significant advancement in space exploration activities. It would make it possible for future lunar missions to launch from the moon’s surface.
A team from the Johnson Space Centre in Houston carried out the procedure, separating oxygen necessary for life from a model of lunar soil by using a powerful laser to initiate a carbothermal reaction, read a NASA release.
The oxygen was taken out in a vacuum for the first time.
The Carbothermal Reduction Demonstration (CaRD) experiment could serve as a foundation for the production of oxygen gas for breathing in addition to its uses for propellers in vehicles.
NASA engineer Anastasia Ford stated, “Our team demonstrated that the CaRD reactor would successfully extract oxygen from the lunar surface and survive.”
Additionally, Ford said, “This is a big step for developing the architecture to build sustainable human bases on other planets.”
Nasa has long planned to use the moon as its base of operations for space exploration endeavors. In 2025, the Artemis mission will send people back to the moon for the first time in 50 years.
The oxygen extraction experiment’s recent success is rated at readiness level 6, which implies it is ready to be tested in actual space.
Earlier in April, NASA announced the names of the four astronauts who will travel to the moon on the Artemis II mission, the program’s first crewed lunar journey.
The Orion spacecraft trip, an unmanned test that went to the Moon and returned to Earth in November 2022, has already been completed by NASA.
