Interest in space studies is increasing day by day. In addition to space travel for scientific and exploratory purposes, space travel is now evolving into a more commercial field where ordinary people printing “a little money” will also experience it. As such, in the space environment our life and what we need to go into space fuel The need for resources that will provide

According to a new study led by scientists in China, the soil on the lunar surface contains carbon dioxide. convert into oxygen and fuels contains active substances. Researchers are now investigating whether lunar resources could be used to facilitate human exploration of space on the moon or beyond.

It may be possible to produce oxygen and fuel from lunar soil

Materials scientists Yingfang Yao and Zhigang Zou of Nanjing University are the two most abundant sources on the moon. Moon bottom and solar radiation It aims to devise a system that uses When analyzing the lunar soil brought along by the Chinese spacecraft Chang’e 5, the research team found that the sample in question contains certain substances, including iron- and titanium-rich substances, which can act as a catalyst to produce desired products such as oxygen using sunlight and carbon dioxide. connections reports that they have detected it contains .

Starting from these observations, the team developed a sort of “extraterrestrial photosynthesis” strategy proposal. According to the system in question, it seems possible that the lunar floor could be used to electrolyze water extracted from the moon and astronauts’ exhaust gases into oxygen and hydrogen powered by sunlight. Carbon dioxide exhaled by astronauts on the moon is also collected during this process and can be combined with hydrogen from water electrolysis during a hydrogenation process catalyzed by the lunar floor.

Also during the process can be used as fuel Hydrocarbons such as methane can also be obtained. Their strategy is to set up a base on the moon using only sunlight to produce products such as water, oxygen and fuel needed to sustain life. Does not use an external power source indicate team; plans to test its systems in space during China’s future manned lunar missions.

There is also a video on how the process is performed.

A sustainable and affordable alien habitat

In its statement on the subject, the missile payload of its systems minimalize Yao, who stated on his behalf to take advantage of the resources in the environment, “Our strategy is sustainable and affordable presents a scenario for an alien habitat” saves as. In addition, Yao notes that while the catalytic efficiency of lunar soil is less than Earth’s, the team tested several approaches to refine the design, such as adding the lunar soil to a high-entropy nanostructured material that is a better catalyst.

Yao stated that in the very near future we will witness the rapid development of the human space industry.“There is such a thing as the ‘Age of Sailing’ in the 1600s, when hundreds of ships sailed. ‘Space Age’we will come in. But if we want to do large-scale exploration of the alien world, ways to reduce the burdenso we’re going to have to consider using as little material from Earth as possible and using alien resources instead,” he adds.