Any future moon base will need a reliable supply of oxygen and fuel, and the lunar soil could help catalyse reactions to generate both
at Nanjing University, China, and his colleagues examined a lunar soil sample to see if it could be used as a catalyst for a system that would convert carbon dioxide and water released by astronauts’ bodies into oxygen, hydrogen and other useful by-products like methane that could be used to power a lunar base.
The researchers then tested the soil as a catalyst in various chemical reactions that would form part of a photosynthesis-like process to produce hydrogen and oxygen from CO2 and water. They found that the soil’s efficiency wasn’t as good as catalysts we have on Earth and isn’t currently good enough to generate products in sufficient quantities to support human life on the moon, but that tweaks to the structure and composition of the lunar soil sample might see significant improvements.
Hecht sees other potential problems to overcome. For instance, the reaction Yao and his team suggest performing requires liquifying the CO2, which they think could be performed simply using the moon’s cool atmosphere – but Hecht isn’t convinced that will work. “On the moon, cold temperature doesn’t mean you can condense CO2, you have to shed heat to do that.”
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