2024-08-24 01:48:11
Chinese scientists have discovered a “brand new method” to produce large amounts of water from lunar soil brought back by an expedition in 2020, Reuters reported, citing Chinese state broadcaster CCTV.
In 2020, China’s Chang’e-5 mission collected and delivered lunar samples to Earth for the first time in 44 years. Researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences have found that the minerals in this “lunar soil” contain large amounts of hydrogen, which when heated to very high temperatures reacts with other elements to produce water vapor.
Using the new method, one ton of lunar soil will be able to extract about 51-76 liters of water, which is equivalent to more than a hundred 500ml bottles or the daily water consumption of 50 people, CCTV reported.
Chinese scientists are already conducting experiments with lunar samples brought back in June by the Chang’e-6 mission.
The discovery of the new method could have major implications for the long-running project to build a station on the moon amid the race between China and the United States to establish and extract resources from the moon, Reuters noted.
The Chinese Space Agency has set 2035 as the deadline for the construction of a “base station” on the South Pole of the Moon, and in 2045 it is planned that a Chinese space station will be in lunar orbit, BTA reported.