Scientists May Have Found A Way To Turn Moon Dust Into Rocket Fuel And Oxygen – BGR

From the article

While it might seem logical to think we can bring all the resources we need to build a moon base (like the one South Korea plans to put together by 2045) and thrive on the lunar surface from down here on Earth, researchers estimate it would cost roughly $83,000 per gallon to transport water from Earth to the moon. But what if we could generate water and other much-needed resources directly from the resources the moon offers?

That’s the idea behind a new study from Chinese scientists (published in Joule) that claims to have found a way to create water using moon dust. For long-term survival to be feasible, we need to find a smarter, more efficient way to generate water. And if moon dust can actually have water extracted from it, then we could have access to a proverbial never-ending well of water for astronauts to rely upon.

“We never fully imagined the ‘magic’ that the lunar soil possessed,” Lu Wang, a research with the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzen, said in a statement. “The biggest surprise for us was the tangible success of this integrated approach. The one-step integration of lunar H2O extraction and photothermal CO2 catalysis could enhance energy utilization efficiency and decrease the cost and complexity of infrastructure development.”