NASA researchers have made progress towards establishing future human settlements on the Moon by successfully extracting oxygen from simulated lunar soil in a vacuum atmosphere. For astronauts to have access to breathable air, the capacity to extract oxygen from lunar soil is essential. This oxygen can also be used as a propellant for space travel and exploration.

 

To simulate the conditions on the Moon, NASA scientists used a special spherical chamber called the Dirty Thermal Vacuum Chamber. This chamber has a 15-foot diameter and is designed to allow unclean samples to be tested inside. The vacuum environment inside the chamber is similar to the conditions on the Moon, where there is no atmosphere and the temperature can range from -173°C to 127°C.

 

The researchers extracted oxygen from the lunar soil replica using a carbothermal reactor inside the Dirty Thermal Vacuum Chamber. The carbothermal reactor is a machine that employs heat to disintegrate substances into their basic components. In this instance, the lunar soil simulant was heated in the reactor to a temperature of 1,000°C, causing it to melt.

 

To simulate the heat from a solar energy concentrator, the scientists used a high-powered laser to melt the lunar soil simulant. The laser was able to create a temperature of 1,000°C, which is similar to the temperature on the Moon’s surface when exposed to direct sunlight. This process is similar to the one used on Earth to create items like solar panels and steel.

 

The researchers employed a tool known as the Mass Spectrometer Observing Lunar Operations (MSolo) to find carbon monoxide after heating the lunar soil simulant in the carbothermal reactor. The MSolo is a device that analyses the gas composition in a sample. The carbothermal reaction produces carbon monoxide as a byproduct, and its testing demonstrated that oxygen was successfully extracted from the lunar soil model.