Human Presence on the Moon One Step Closer as NASA Extracts Oxygen from Lunar Soil

NASA has managed to successfully extract oxygen from simulated lunar soil in a vacuum environment for the first time.

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This development is considered as a stepping stone towards establishing a human presence on the moon.

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Lunar soil is believed to be a valuable resource for long-term missions on the moon.

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Lunar soil contains compounds that could potentially be used to produce oxygen with the help of radiation from the sun.

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NASA's Carbothermal Reduction Demonstration (CaRD) team created fine-grained soil to simulate the material covering the Moon’s surface.

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Later they used a high-powered laser to simulate heat from a solar energy concentrator.

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After the soil was heated, the team was able to detect carbon monoxide using a device called the Mass Spectrometer Observing Lunar Operations (MSolo), paving the way for future exploration missions to the moon's South Pole.

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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,

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