Scientists Make Oxygen Out of Moon Rock

Scientists Make Oxygen Out of Moon Rock

www.physorg.com

(PhysOrg.com) -- If humans ever create a lunar base, one of the biggest challenges will be figuring out how to breathe. Transporting oxygen to the moon is extremely expensive, so for the past several years NASA has been looking into other possibilities. One idea is extracting oxygen from moon rock.

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Scientists pass a current between the cathode and an anode made of carbon, with both electrodes sitting in an electrolyte solution of molten calcium chloride, a common salt. The current removes oxygen atoms from the cathode, which are then ionized and dissolve in the molten salt. The negatively charged oxygen is attracted to the carbon anode, where it erodes the anode and produces carbon dioxide.

Sounds like a great technology to cut down the original launch weight of future missions to the moon. I wonder if the same technology could be adapted for, say, Mars. This is the kind of stuff that eventually spawns spin-off technologies for the consumer market down the line, hopefully we start seeing more developments.

Edit: Photo

www.physorg.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

[edit on 8/12/2009 by ZombieOctopus]

Very interesting,I saw an old film with the original batman actor in it crashing on a planet with a monkey and he did the same thing with rocks!

So what happens to Earth after our moon has been depleted so much to make Oxygen that affects our climate?

Humans have no clue how to be resourceful. We are a wasteful species. There is NOTHING on the moon to replenish what is taken.

Yeah. Let's wipe out the planet Earth entirely!

This reminds me of the aliens on Independence Day, but Humans are the ones traveling from solar system to solar system destroying the planet's resources like locusts and moving to the next planet.

Originally posted by Nivcharah
Yeah. Let's wipe out the planet Earth entirely!

What?? lol, You could strip mine the moon continuously for centuries and it wouldn't make a bean of difference!

and any way they will only be extracting what they need - in this case the oxygen, the rest will be tossed back out probably after all that is needed is taken out.

Or would you much rather have much heavier and more polluting launch vehicles - more complicated and expensive.

We need to have a presence elsewhere off Earth, one stray asteroid could wipe us out any time - right now we have all our eggs in one basket...

reply to post by Now_Then


Where does 'the rest' get tossed back out to? And in what form? Just how much moon rock needs to be used? Do you know?

You must, because you speak as if you are authoritative in this field.

Instead of looking for ways to create more oxygen so that less fuel is needed to launch craft, we should be working on using the technology that already exists to generate free energy WITHOUT the current fuel source. I would rather we learn how to bend space and time through use of wormholes. It's faster travel.

I'm beginning to think that one big, stray asteroid is what this planet actually needs. Besides, do you even think our govt would bother to take the inhabitants of this planet with them? I mean, there are underground cities connecting the entire country from coast to coast, but that is only intended for 'important govt officials' (IGO = ego; or "I go, but you no.")

reply to post by Nivcharah


Wouldn't you be a great laugh at a party! Anyway this is what im talking about,shame countries are not investing heavily into space exploration.We could have a moon base within 5 years if countries got together and pushed for it....no we will have to wait until 2020 supposedly,and even that is not certain

reply to post by Nivcharah

So what happens to Earth after our moon has been depleted so much to make Oxygen that affects our climate?

Im trying to understand this question.

So what you're asking is:

Mining lunar rocks on the moon, to produce oxygen on the moon, to supply a space station on the moon, so astronauts on the moon, can breath while on the moon is going to affect Earth's climate?

Can you please elaborate

Good question. I will clarify.

The moon directly affects many aspects of our atmosphere (better word than 'climate') which in turn affects life on the planet.

When Humans inevitably 'screw up' the moon (as we have the planet), what affects do you think this will have on Earth? Probably worse than being hit by an asteroid, since the destruction would be a slow and painful process.

So changing the mass or density or any other aspect of the moon is going to affect our planet. If something as simple as Lunar cycles have an impact on our lives, what will man-made changes do to life on Earth?

Originally posted by Nivcharah
do you even think our govt would bother to take the inhabitants of this planet with them? I mean, there are underground cities connecting the entire country from coast to coast, but that is only intended for 'important govt officials' (IGO = ego; or "I go, but you no.")

Well I don't personally expect to ever leave the bonds of my favourite planet, but that really is not the point... The important thing is that human life gets 'out there' in a big way (I'm thinking missions that have 3 or 4 hundred people and lots of them - hell there is so much to think about it's not inconceivable that a 50 pence washer could doom one mission to failure).

But the real point is to have 'generational' human capability that is independent from the Earth - it's not going to be easy or safe (or cheep

) and it aint gonna happen for real in our lifetimes - but it does need to happen, every day we delay brings a catastrophe that could reduce every advance the human race has ever made to a pre-industrial state or worse closer...

All you have to do is look at the scars on the Earth to see we have been hit many times - it would be a terrible shame to loose all we have - and right now we are all in the same basket... The only solution is to have large numbers of people living independently of Earth... And the only sensible way is to build on existing tech - not crossing your fingers and hoping Stargate is based on fact

There is NOTHING on the moon to replenish what is taken.

We get O2 from the rocks, we breathe it in, and breathe out CO2. And then with photosynthesis we turn CO2 into O2. Matter is neither created nor destroyed. What's the point of replenishing rocks anyway? You must, because you speak as if you are authoritative in this field.

Where does 'the rest' get tossed back out to? And in what form? Just how much moon rock needs to be used? Do you know?

RIF.

Based on experiments with a simulated lunar rock developed by NASA, the researchers calculate that three one-meter-tall reactors could generate one tonne of oxygen per year on the Moon. Each tonne of oxygen would require three tonnes of rock to produce. Fray noted that three reactors would require about 4.5 kilowatts of power, which could be supplied by solar panels or possibly a small nuclear reactor on the Moon. The researchers are also working with the European Space Agency on developing an even larger reactor that could be operated remotely.

As for what kind of waste there is, find the chemical structure and ask a chemist... or me, not that I am a chemist. Or learn Chemistry yourself...

Instead of looking for ways to create more oxygen so that less fuel is needed to launch craft, we should be working on using the technology that already exists to generate free energy WITHOUT the current fuel source.

Technology that already exists? Like what? And prove that it can power spaceflight. You must know, because you speak as if you are authoritative in this field.

I'm beginning to think that one big, stray asteroid is what this planet actually needs.

If you want the world to end then that's fine - just don't ruin it for the rest of us.

So changing the mass or density or any other aspect of the moon is going to affect our planet. If something as simple as Lunar cycles have an impact on our lives, what will man-made changes do to life on Earth?

The mass of the moon would barely change. 1 tonne of oxygen per year per reactor, big deal. That's .00000000379% of the moon per year. That is of course, presumes that all the oxygen will be shipped off the moon - if it's merely breathed by astronauts on the moon, there will be ZERO effect on mass. Question? Is the gravity 1000kg produces noticeable? You must know, because you speak as if you are authoritative in this field.

Humans have no clue how to be resourceful. We are a wasteful species. There is NOTHING on the moon to replenish what is taken.

How can you pop Oxygen out of nothing? You must know, because you speak as if you are authoritative in this field. Further, how do you think we breathe? Guess we should kill everyone for "changing the mass and density" of the Earth by breathing. Wouldn't free energy still remove mass and change the density of the Earth thus apparently screwing up our climate?

[edit on 13/8/2009 by C0bzz]