Establishing a permanent human presence on the Moon has long depended on the availability of three vital resources: water, oxygen, and fuel. Now, a major scientific breakthrough could significantly advance that goal.
A recent study published in the journal Joule details a new technology capable of extracting water from lunar soil while simultaneously converting carbon dioxide into oxygen and fuel chemicals. This dual-function system could dramatically reduce the need to transport essential supplies from Earth, making lunar habitation more feasible and cost-effective.
Human survival on the Moon hinges on water often dubbed “liquid gold” for its rarity and value. Encouragingly, multiple sources of lunar water have been discovered in recent years, including ice deposits in permanently shadowed craters near the Moon’s poles and trace amounts found in mineral grains and glass beads formed by asteroid impacts.
In 2020, China’s Chang’e 5 mission returned lunar soil samples to Earth. Since then, researchers have detected signs of hydroxyl and molecular water, though exact locations remain undetermined.
Theories about the origin of this water range from delivery by comets and asteroids to solar wind-induced chemical reactions in lunar soil.
Transporting water to the Moon remains prohibitively expensive about $83,000 per gallon. With each astronaut needing around four gallons daily, the financial burden is immense. The newly developed technology aims to tackle this issue through a more energy-efficient approach.
Earlier extraction techniques required multiple steps and high energy input, often failing to produce fuel efficiently. In contrast, the new system employs a photothermal process, using focused light to generate heat inside a batch reactor filled with carbon dioxide gas.Tested on Lunar Samples
The method has been tested on both simulated soil and samples returned by the Chang’e 5 mission. It successfully extracted water and produced carbon monoxide and hydrogen—gases that can be used as fuel and oxygen sources to support human life.
“We never expected the lunar soil to contain such ‘magic’,” said Lu Wang of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen. “The greatest surprise was the success of this integrated approach.
Extracting lunar water and catalyzing photothermal CO2 in a single step increases energy efficiency while reducing costs and infrastructure complexity.“
Despite promising lab results, implementing this technology on the Moon poses significant challenges. Harsh environmental conditions including extreme temperatures, radiation, and low gravity may impact its effectiveness.
Researchers stress the need to overcome these technical obstacles and manage development costs to make lunar water extraction viable for future space missions. Still, this breakthrough marks a major milestone in the journey toward sustainable human life beyond Earth.
