Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) researchers have developed a new method of massive water production on the Moon.
Previous lunar explorations have found the water content in lunar minerals to be extremely low, ranging from 0.0001% to 0.02%, they note. Now Prof. Wang Junqiang’s team at the Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering (NIMTE) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) has developed a new method of massive water production based on the reaction between lunar regolith and endogenous hydrogen.
Concentrated heating regolith releases water
“We used lunar regolith samples brought back by the Chang’E-5 mission in our study," said Wang. The study revealed that when the lunar regolith is heated above 1,200 K with concave mirrors, one gram of molten lunar regolith can generate 51 to 76 mg of water.
"So one ton of lunar regolith could produce more than 50 kg of water, which is equal to about a hundred 500-ml bottles of drinking water. This would be enough drinking water for 50 people for one day."
Lunar ilmenite (FeTiO3) was found to contain the highest amount of solar wind-implanted hydrogen among the five primary minerals in the lunar regolith, owing to its unique lattice structure with sub-nanometer tunnels.
Other options: irrigating and breathing
The researchers suggest that this water could be used both for drinking and irrigating plants. Or it could be electrochemically decomposed into hydrogen and oxygen, with hydrogen used for energy and oxygen essential for breathing.
The researchers say these discoveries provide pioneering insights into water exploration on the Moon and shed light on the future construction of lunar research stations.
The results of the study were published in the Cell Press journal The Innovation.
Citation: Xiao Chen et al. August 22. Massive Water Production from Lunar Ilmenite through Reaction with Endogenous Hydrogen. The Innovation. https://www.cell.com/the-innovation/fulltext/S2666-6758(24)00128-0 (open access)