China Produced Large Quantities of Water Using Lunar Soil

The Moon is a crucial entity to consider when it comes to advanced space exploration. One of our prevalent objectives has been to visit the moon and establish a permanent base. 

However, a difficulty often observed is our inability to recycle or reliably produce water in space for the crew. Because of this, getting to Mars and beyond seems a distant dream. 

Researchers from China might have made a huge breakthrough towards setting up a permanent establishment on the moon. They converted lunar soil into large quantities of water, using soil brought from the Moon by the 2020 Chang’e-5 mission. 

The researchers discovered that minerals in the lunar soil comprise huge amounts of hydrogen. When heated to high temperatures, the soil can react to other elements and produce water vapor that can be collected. In this experiment particularly, the scientists said that 51-76 kg of water could be produced, which could be more than enough to cover the daily drinking water needs of 50 people.

On the other hand, it remains unclear what type of energy is needed to produce water or the other elements involved in bringing about the chemical reactions that make the water vapors. These are important details to be deliberated upon for turning the water production process into a process that can be easily utilized to produce water on the Moon and other places. 

CCTV’s comments that Reuters quotes indicate the scientific discovery is a big breakthrough for China’s space interests:

After three years of in-depth research and repeated verification, a brand-new method of using lunar soil to produce large amounts of water was discovered, which is expected to provide an important design basis for the construction of future lunar scientific research stations and space stations.

Producing water in space would also be a key mission objective for creating the hydrogen rocket fuel we would need to reach Mars and beyond. If this speculated method works as described, lunar soil could be turned into rocket fuel quite soon.