Chinese scientists have made an exciting breakthrough that could change the future of space exploration. They have discovered a way to take water from the Moon’s soil, which might be a game changer for long-term space missions on the moon and beyond.
Lunar water is, in fact, water found on the moon. But it’s not the same as the water we drink on Earth. On the moon, water doesn’t flow in rivers or lakes. Instead, it’s mostly trapped within the Moon’s soil, also known as regolith. This water is actually in the form of hydrogen which has been absorbed into the soil minerals over millions of years because of solar wind. The hydrogen sticks oxygen within the minerals, making water molecules that are locked away in tiny amounts.
So it’s known that there’s water on the moon, but how can they get it out? The team of Chinese scientists created a method to release this trapped water by heating the lunar soil to very high temperatures, around a thousand degrees Celsius. When the soil is heated to this level, the hydrogen in the minerals reacts with oxygen to produce water vapor. This vapor can then be cooled and condensed into liquid water. Astronauts could use the water for drinking, growing food, creating rocket fuel and much more!
Water can be gathered from the moon’s soil, but is it a large enough amount to make a difference? While the amount of water in lunar soil might seem small, it adds up. The researchers found that one gram of lunar soil can produce between 51 and 76 milligrams of water. This means that if you had a ton of lunar soil, you could extract enough water to meet the daily drinking needs of about 50 people. While this isn’t a massive amount, it’s a large amount when you consider just how important and valuable water is on the moon and in space.
This discovery is a part of China’s larger plan to explore the moon and maybe make sustainable human life on the moon a possibility. By being able to produce water directly from the moon, future missions could become more self-sufficient, reducing the need to bring water from Earth and making space exploration more feasible and cost-effective in the long run.
Related stories:
https://www.nbcnews.com/science/space/chinese-scientists-use-lunar-soil-produce-water-rcna167951
https://interestingengineering.com/science/china-extracts-water-from-lunar-soil
https://www.independent.co.uk/space/moon-water-lunar-soil-regolith-b2601809.html
https://www.earth.com/news/chinese-scientists-have-harvested-water-from-lunar-soil/
https://www.cnn.com/2024/08/05/science/china-moon-samples-water-intl-hnk/index.html
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