Last month, the Australian Space Agency signed a deal with NASA to send an Australian-developed rover to the Moon under the Artemis program to collect lunar rocks that could eventually offer breathable oxygen.
As specified in a ScienceAlert report, along with advances in space exploration, the two agencies have seen ample time and money interested in technologies that could enable the effective utilization of space resources.
Then, at the forefront of these initiatives has been a laser-sharp concentration in searching for the best way to generate oxygen on the moon.
Even though the moon has an atmosphere, it is very slim and comprises mostly hydrogen, argon, and neon. It's not the kind of gaseous mixture that could retain oxygen-reliant mammals like humans.
Having gathered such information, there is, in fact, an abundance of oxygen on the Moon. It just is not in the form of gas. Rather, it is trapped inside a regolith, the rock layer, and fine dust that's covering the surface of the Moon.
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Lunar rocks
Oxygen on the Surface of Moon
Oxygen is present in numerous minerals in the ground surrounding humans. More so, the moon is, more often than not, made of the similar rocks found on earth, although with a little greater amount of material coming from meteors.
Minerals like aluminum, silica, and iron and magnesium oxides dominate the landscape of the Moon. All of these minerals have oxygen, although not in a form the lungs can access.
On the Moon, the said minerals are present in a few different forms, including hard rock, gravel, stones, and dust that cover the surface. Such a mineral has resulted from the effects of meteorites that crash into the lunar surface over countless millennia.
For some people, the Moon's surface layer lunar is called "soil," although some soil scientists hesitate to call it such.
'Electrolysis'
As it is commonly known, the soil is described as pretty magical stuff that only occurs on this planet. It has been produced by a great range of organisms that work on the parental material of soil called the regolith, which has been derived from hard rock for millions of years.
On Earth electrolysis, as detailed in the BBC site, is a process typically used in manufacturing, as aluminum production.
The outcome is a matrix of minerals that did not exist in the original rocks. The soil of the earth is imbued with outstanding physical, biological, and chemical traits.
In the meantime, the materials on the surface of the Moon are regolith in their "original and untouched" form. Essentially, a single substance enters; two then come out.
The regolith of the moon is made up of roughly 45 percent oxygen. However, that particular oxygen is tightly bound into the minerals mentioned earlier. In order to break the strong bonds apart, there is a need to put in energy.
As specified in The Conversation, extracting oxygen from regolith would require substantial industrial equipment, as well. There is a need to initially convert solid metal oxide into a form of liquid, either by applying heat or heat combined with electrolytes or solvents.
Related information about oxygen on Earth is shown on Business Upside's YouTube video below:
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Check out more news and information on Moon in Science Times.
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