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Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab

A team of Chinese researchers are delving into techniques to extract water from the Moon – making use of lunar samples rocketed to Earth to pursue their investigation.

According to China Central Television (CCTV), scientists at the Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering are looking into an approach that would be capable of yielding up to over 165 pounds (76 kilograms) of water from around one ton of lunar soil.

The work is cited as “setting the stage for the establishment of future lunar research stations,” according to CCTV based on reporting by China Media Group (CMG).

Photo taking during Chang’e-5 surface sampling.
Credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab

Daily hydration needs

“Extensive analyses by the research team prove that this innovative water extraction method can generate approximately 51 to 76 milligrams of water from a single gram of lunar soil,” CCTV reports. “By extrapolation, a ton of lunar soil can yield around 51 to 76 kilograms of water – equivalent to over 100 bottles of 500 milliliters each – capable of meeting the daily hydration needs of 50 individuals.”

In an interview with China Media Group, Wang Junqiang, a researcher of the Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering said that even if water naturally exists on the Moon, the high-vacuum environment makes it evaporate very quickly, leaving the natural satellite acutely short of the liquid.

“Instead of thinking about directly detecting water, we separate it,” Wang said. “There is hydrogen and oxygen in water. Can we study the sources of these two elements separately and then generate water through chemical reactions? This provides a good scientific research plan or new idea for future lunar exploration,” he said.

Earth’s Moon continues to surprise.
Credit: NASA

Focusing sunlight

Wang predicted that experiments on the Moon may possibly test water-producing ideas before 2030, or even ahead of China’s Chang’e-8 mission around 2028.

Wang and colleagues are evaluating use of a concave mirror or a Fresnel lens to focus sunlight to heat the lunar soil to more than 1,500 Celsius degrees and melt it, which will produce water vapor.

“We can collect the water vapor and use it as drinking water. At the same time, we can also electrolyze the water to obtain oxygen and hydrogen. Oxygen is an essential substance for us to breathe, so there is no problem for human[s] to stay alive. In addition, hydrogen is an energy source. We can burn it or use it to generate electricity in fuel cells,” Wang said.

Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab

Hydrogen reserves

In addition, Wang added that the heated lunar soil can generate iron, as well as ceramic glass.

“We can use iron as building materials and magnetic materials, as magnetic materials play an indispensable role in the field of electrical power and electronics. And ceramics and steel are essential for building materials too. So we can build houses on the Moon,” said Wang.

Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab

Research colleague, Chen Xiao, added that as investigators heated the titanium iron ore in lunar soil, anticipating the release of helium, they were instead astonished by the output of bubbles. Lunar soil minerals, enriched over billions of years by solar wind exposure, harbor substantial hydrogen reserves.

“When subjected to high temperatures, hydrogen interacts with iron oxides within the minerals, yielding elemental iron and copious amounts of water. The lunar soil liquefies at temperatures exceeding 1,000 degrees Celsius, liberating water vapor produced during this transformative reaction,” CCTV reports.

Lab samples

As reported by CCTV, Wang stated that the work has resulted in a completely new method of water production.

“The naturally occurring water on the Moon is typically between 0.0001 percent and 0.02 percent, making extraction incredibly difficult. Through this method, the water content we obtain can exceed 5 percent of the lunar soil weight, at least 250 times more than the natural water content,” said Wang.

This new In-situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) work involved samples rocketed from the Moon via China’s  Chang’e-5 mission in December 2020, an effort that hurled to Earth 1,731 grams of primarily rocks and soil from the lunar surface.

Far side scenery taken by Chang’e-6 lander/ascender.
Image credit: CNSA/CLEP

Also, China’s Chang’e-6 Moon mission returned 1,935 grams of samples from the far side of the Moon. The country is pressing forward on plans to realize a crewed Moon landing by 2030 to carry out lunar scientific exploration and related technological experiments.

Go to this video that spotlights China’s ISRU work at:

https://www.facebook.com/NewsContent.CCTVPLUS/videos/846836970450005

Also, go to the research paper — “Massive Water Production from Lunar Ilmenite through Reaction with Endogenous Hydrogen” — at: 

https://www.cell.com/action/showPdf?pii=S2666-6758%2824%2900128-0

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