One ton of lunar soil can provide 50 people with drinking water for a day? Chinese scientists propose a "lunar soil water production method"!

One ton of lunar soil may provide drinking water for 50 people for one day. A Chinese research team has proposed a method to produce a large amount of water from lunar soil.

A Chinese research team found that the Chang'e-5 lunar soil can produce water through high-temperature redox reactions, which is expected to provide an important design basis for the construction of future lunar research stations and space stations. The relevant paper on this achievement was published in the international academic journal Innovation on August 22.

It is understood that this achievement was jointly completed by the research team of amorphous alloy magnetoelectric functional properties of the Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and teams from universities and research institutions such as the Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Qian Xuesen Space Technology Laboratory of the China Academy of Space Technology, Songshan Lake Materials Laboratory, Harbin Institute of Technology and Nanjing University.

It is reported that water is a key resource for building a lunar scientific research station and conducting future lunar interstellar travel to ensure human survival. In the lunar soil of Chang'e 5, there is a small amount of water in various lunar soil minerals such as lunar soil glass, plagioclase, olivine and pyroxene, but the water content in these minerals is extremely rare and difficult to extract and utilize on the moon.

After three years of in-depth research and repeated verification, the research team found that the lunar soil minerals have stored a large amount of hydrogen due to billions of years of solar wind radiation. After being heated to high temperatures, hydrogen will undergo redox reactions with iron oxides in the minerals to produce elemental iron and a large amount of water. When the temperature rises above 1000°C, the lunar soil will melt, and the water generated by the reaction will be released in the form of water vapor.

The picture shows the strategy for in-situ mining and utilization of lunar water resources. (Photo by Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences)

After analyzing various experimental techniques, the research team confirmed that 1 ton of lunar soil will produce about 51-76 kilograms of water, which can basically meet the daily drinking water needs of 50 people.

Based on the above research results, the research team further proposed a strategy for the in-situ mining and utilization of lunar water resources: "molten lunar soil - water vapor condenses into water for collection and storage - electrolysis of water to produce oxygen and hydrogen - retained iron and lunar soil are used as permanent magnetic and soft magnetic materials, electronic materials, construction materials, etc." The researchers said that this strategy will provide an important design basis for the construction of future lunar scientific research stations and space stations, and it is expected that verification equipment will be launched in the subsequent Chang'e lunar exploration mission to complete further confirmation.

Source: Xinhua News Agency