NASA scientists have extracted oxygen from simulated lunar soil in a vacuum environment for the first time, conducting the test in similar conditions to those on the moon.
Four volunteers will live in NASA's Mars habitat for one year, helping the space center collect data for its first mission to the planet in outer space.This marks the first time this extraction has been done in a vacuum environment.
NASA’s Carbothermal Reduction Demonstration researchers used a high-powered laser to simulate heat from a solar energy concentrator and melted the lunar soil simulant within a carbothermal reactor developed by Sierra Space Corp. A carbothermal reactor is where the process of heating and extracting the oxygen takes place.
Carbothermal reduction has been used for decades on Earth to produce items like solar panels, producing carbon monoxide or dioxide using high temperatures. "This technology has the potential to produce several times its own weight in oxygen per year on the lunar surface, which will enable a sustained human presence and lunar economy," Aaron Paz, NASA senior engineer and CaRD project manager at Johnson, explained in a statement.
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