strange program for space travel; The moon will become a gas station for spaceships!

Due to the absence of atmosphere, any ice on the surface will quickly sublimate and disperse into space. The most promising places to find water are the “Permanently Shadowed Regions” or those deep craters where sunlight never shines and are among the coldest parts of the solar system. Of course, one should not expect natural glaciers; Water does not exist as a pure ice layer, but is mixed with lunar soil. Even if these dark craters are full of water, exploring them would be too dangerous for astronauts and moonwalkers.

If the water in the soil of the moon is sufficient and accessible, it can be extracted. Most of the proposed methods involve heating the soil to evaporate and separate the water. One method is to use structures called “capture tent”.

Photographer: Frank Michaux/NASA

By heating the surface, water vapor is collected under this tent and then turns into ice again in a cold chamber. Different heat sources can be used for this; From concentrated sunlight to excess heat from the small nuclear reactors that are to be installed to power bases on the moon.

In the final step, pure water must be broken down into hydrogen and oxygen through the process of electrolysis. In this method, the current of electricity breaks the molecular bonds of water. This process is well known on Earth, and an experiment has proven that this technology can be used to produce oxygen on other planets.

Photographer: Frank Michaux/NASA

After the decomposition of water, hydrogen and oxygen gases are condensed and stored as rocket fuel. The project manager of this experiment hopes that this technology will be tested on the moon in the next few years; Because the production of even one liter of water per month would be a great technological show.

Although there is still a long way to go before refueling stations on the moon, the space race between China and the United States could speed up the process. Launching any object from the earth has a very high cost due to the deep gravity well of the earth. In contrast, the moon, with its low gravity and no atmosphere, is a much more optimal launch pad. Using the fuel produced on the moon can reduce the cost of a human mission to Mars by 12 billion dollars. This fuel will be used not only for rockets, but also for supplying energy to lunar astronauts and other equipment. Success on the moon is the key to a long-term human stay on Mars. However, a major challenge is that the moon’s resources are not unlimited and the competition to extract these resources in a limited area can become a point of conflict between space powers.

Photographer: Unknown / NASA/JPL-Caltech

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