Chinese scientists from the Ningbo Institute of Materials Science and Engineering have developed a method to industrially produce water on the Moon. The research was published in the scientific journal magazine Innovation.
Results from previous lunar missions, such as the Apollo and Chang’e 5 missions, revealed that water is widely present on the Moon, but the moisture content of lunar minerals is extremely low, ranging from 0.0001% to 0.02%.
The study found that when lunar regolith was heated above 926°C using concave mirrors, one gram of molten rock could produce 51-76 mg of water.
In other words, one tonne of lunar regolith can produce more than 50 kg of water, which is equivalent to about one hundred bottles of drinking water of 500 ml. This amount of drinking water is enough for 50 people for one day.
Lunar ilmenite was also found to contain the highest amount of hydrogen among the five major lunar soil minerals due to its unique lattice structure with sub-nanometer tunnels.
Heating experiments have shown that hydrogen in lunar minerals is an important source of water production on the Moon. Such water can be used both for drinking and for watering plants.
In addition, the liquid can be electrochemically split into hydrogen and oxygen; hydrogen is used for energy and oxygen is needed for breathing.
Earlier Chinese scientists discovered Water in lunar minerals.
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Source: Gazeta
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