In this extraterrestrial world, humans will breathe through… earth-Information Technology

Lunar soil could act as an “extraterrestrial photosynthetic catalyst”, a new study demonstrates.

According to SciTech Daily, soil on the Moon may contain active compounds that help convert carbon dioxide (CO2) into oxygen and fuel, a form of “extraterrestrial photosynthetic catalysts”.

The above information is given in a new paper published in the journal Joule, made by two materials scientists Yingyang Yao and Zhigang Zou from Nanjing University (China). Compounds in the lunar soil – including those rich in iron and titanium – could be used to electrolyze the water extracted from the Moon and the CO2 exhaled by the astronauts.

China’s Chang’e 5 probe – Photo: SPACE

The products of this process will be oxygen to breathe and hydrocarbons that can be used as fuel such as methane. The source of energy for the whole system to operate is also extremely abundant, which can be found everywhere: sunlight.

“We use local, natural resources to minimize rocket payload. Our strategy is to create the scenario for an affordable and sustainable extraterrestrial habitat.” – Dr. Yao said.

They plan to test this lunar soil-based fuel and oxygen production system with Chinese crews in the future.

According to Sci-News, the idea of ​​the study came from analyzing the structure and composition of lunar soil samples brought back to Earth by China’s Chang’e 5 mission. Although the catalytic efficiency of lunar soil is lower than those of Earth – still used for similar systems – scientists are still testing different approaches to improve.

Many options for lunar bases have been proposed by scientists around the world, but most require a large source of energy delivered directly from Earth. This would be very expensive and not a sustainable option, nor would it be able to transport much. Therefore, finding local energy sources is a primary goal of space agencies.