NASA has taken another significant step towards establishing a permanent human presence on the Moon by successfully extracting oxygen from synthetic lunar soil in a vacuum environment.
This breakthrough paves the way for similar oxygen extraction on the actual lunar surface. According to Anastasia Ford, a NASA engineer and director of the CaRD test programme, “Our team demonstrated the CaRD reactor would endure the lunar surface and successfully extract oxygen.” This achievement is crucial in the development of viable human bases on other planets.
To extract oxygen, the scientists melted a replica of lunar soil with a powerful laser, which released oxygen. They used a Mass Spectrometer Observing Lunar Operations (MSolo) and carbothermal reduction, a method commonly used on Earth to make steel and solar panels, by generating carbon monoxide or dioxide at high temperatures. This marks the first successful oxygen extraction from simulated lunar soil in a vacuum environment.
NASA has already named the four astronauts who will fly to the Moon on the Artemis II mission, which will be the first crewed lunar flight of the programme. Furthermore, NASA has already completed the Orion spacecraft flight, an uncrewed test that flew to the Moon and returned to Earth in November 2022.
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The Carbothermal Reduction Demonstration (CaRD) team used a “Dirty Thermal Vacuum Chamber,” which was located at Houston’s Johnson Space Centre. This 15-foot-diameter spherical container allowed for the testing of unclean (or “dirty”) samples. With this successful oxygen extraction from simulated lunar soil, NASA has made significant progress towards establishing a permanent human presence on the Moon.
