Chinese scientists discover how to extract water from moon rocks
A research team from the Chinese Academy of Sciences has devised a method to produce water from lunar soil. According to the announcement, it is possible to produce about 51 to 76 kg of water from one ton of soil.
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Chinese scientists use lunar soil to produce water, state media reports | Reuters
https://www.reuters.com/science/chinese-scientists-use-lunar-soil-produce-water-state-media-reports-2024-08-22/
In 2020, China launched the lunar probe Chang'e 5 and successfully brought back lunar soil samples (moon rocks), the first humankind to do so in 44 years.
The research team spent about three years investigating the soil and came up with a way to extract water from the soil.
Regarding how water is obtained, the research team explained, 'The lunar soil minerals have stored a large amount of hydrogen due to billions of years of solar wind irradiation. When heated to high temperatures, the hydrogen undergoes a redox reaction with the iron oxide in the minerals, producing a large amount of water vapor.'
To cause the reaction, the soil needs to be heated to at least 500 degrees Celsius, but it is also possible to generate water directly on the moon by using a concave mirror or Fresnel lens to concentrate sunlight. According to calculations, about 51kg to 76kg of water can be generated per ton of soil, which is equivalent to more than 100 500ml bottles of drinking water, which basically meets the daily water consumption of 50 people.
In the future, it will be possible to use the water as drinking water, the hydrogen as energy, and even use the iron produced in the synthesis process as building or magnetic material.
'Once Chang'e-8 is completed, it could be launched to the Moon by 2030. By then, it will be possible to launch and verify scientific research equipment to conduct several experiments on the Moon,' the research team said.
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