If humans establish a lunar base, one of the most critical challenges will be ensuring a sustainable oxygen supply. Transporting oxygen from Earth is prohibitively expensive, so researchers have been exploring ways to produce oxygen directly on the Moon. One promising approach involves extracting oxygen from lunar regolith, the loose rocky material covering the Moon’s surface.
The FFC Cambridge Process
A significant breakthrough in this field came from the University of Cambridge, where researchers developed the FFC (Fray-Farthing-Chen) Cambridge process[1][2]. This electrochemical method, invented by Derek Fray, Tom Farthing, and George Chen in 1996-1997, can extract oxygen from metal oxides found in lunar regolith[1][2].
The process works as follows:
1. Lunar regolith is placed in a mesh-lined basket with molten calcium chloride salt as an electrolyte.
2. The mixture is heated to 950°C, at which point the regolith remains solid.
3. An electric current is passed through the material, extracting oxygen from the regolith.
4. The liberated oxygen moves across the salt to an anode, where it can be collected and stored.
Recent tests using simulated lunar regolith have shown promising results, with 96% of the oxygen extracted in just 50 hours[1].
Advantages and Applications
The FFC Cambridge process offers several advantages:
1. Oxygen Production: It can generate oxygen for life support systems and rocket fuel.
2. Building Materials: The metal alloy by-products could be used for in-situ manufacturing of structures on the Moon[1].
3. Resource Efficiency: This approach significantly reduces the need to transport materials from Earth, aligning with the concept of in-situ resource utilization (ISRU)[1].
Current Developments
The European Space Agency (ESA) has awarded a contract to UK company Metalysis to further develop this technology for lunar applications[1]. Their goal is to create a system that can extract oxygen and produce building materials directly from lunar regolith.
Other Approaches
While the FFC Cambridge process shows great promise, other researchers are exploring alternative methods:
– Molten Salt Electrolysis: Developed by Donald Sadoway at MIT, this high-temperature technique uses molten lunar regolith as the electrolyte itself[4].
Future Prospects
The ability to produce oxygen on the Moon is crucial for future lunar exploration and potential habitation. As research progresses, we may see a combination of these technologies deployed to support sustainable lunar operations. The success of these efforts could pave the way for long-term human presence on the Moon and serve as a stepping stone for further space exploration.
Read More
[1] https://www.dezeen.com/2020/11/09/metalysis-moon-rock-european-space-agency/
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FFC_Cambridge_process
[3] https://www.mcg.msm.cam.ac.uk/people/AS/emeritus/professor-derek-fray
[4] https://www.flogen.org/?bio=Fray&p=20
[5] https://www.nature.com/articles/news.2009.803
[6] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0032063312001821
[7] https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Derek-Fray
[8] https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2020/01/25/how-to-make-oxygen-from-moondust
2 comments
What the article doesn’t say is that a resting human being requires about 2.73 Kg of oxygen per day, or about one tonne per year. So three one-metre tall reactors are required per lunar inhabitant. Therefore, each person inhabiting the lunar station requires the excavation of three tonnes of lunar rock per year, to provide enough oxygen to live.
2.73 Kg/day is the resting requirement. Oxygen requirements during exercise are about 15 times that. It could be argued that lunar explorers are going to be pretty active – so say, an average of five times rest requirement will require an excavation of 15 tonnes of lunar rock per person per year.
No problem, each person would only have to excavate 90.7 pounds of rock per day which is 11.34 lbs per hour. There would be at least a few hours available each day for other activities.