OXYGEN ON THE MOON
Unlike Mars, the Moon has no atmosphere, so a Moxie-style system to extract oxygen from CO2 isn’t going to work there. Yet there’s a reasonable prospect that humans will be visiting the lunar surface for lengthy stays in the not-too-distant future. They’re going to need oxygen to breathe, and shipping it all the way from Earth is a very expensive option. Is there any way to create oxygen up there on the Moon via ISRU? It turns out the answer may be yes, according to the European Space Agency’s Materials and Electrical Components Laboratory in the Netherlands. A surprising fact revealed by the Apollo missions is that moondust is made up of 40 to 45 per cent oxygen – its single most abundant element, in fact. ESA scientists have demonstrated a method for extracting this oxygen using a form of electrolysis, thus making lunar ISRU a real possibility.