Scientist develops new device to make water and oxygen from lunar rocks

Aerospace engineer Thorsten Denk has designed and built a machine that can make water and oxygen from the lunar regolith.

Powered by a thermal solar reactor, the device is designed to make enough oxygen and water to support six to eight astronauts.

Denk has worked on the device for ten years at Spain’s Plataforma Solar de Almeria (CIEMAT) and completed a six-month trial of the machine this year.

Denk said: “From the beginning, people were thinking this probably has to be done with a solar furnace because on the Moon, there is not very much to heat a system that you can use; photovoltaics with electricity or a nuclear reactor or concentrated solar radiation.

“After the Apollo missions, scientists had a lot of ideas of how to make oxygen on the Moon, because every material that you bring from Earth costs money.

“For every kilogram of payload, you need hundreds of kilograms of fuel.”

The solar reactor featured in the new device is designed to chemically split water from lunar soil, and electrolysis could then split the H₂O (water) into oxygen and hydrogen.

Denk further added: “Mine is the real size you would build on the Moon to make oxygen for a crew of six or eight, so there’s no upscaling needed later.

“I have also extended my use of fluidised beds.

“It’s not only the reactor itself, but it is also the supply lines and the removal pipe for the particles.”

Using ilmenite (TiO3), an iron oxide found in the ‘dark’ areas of the Moon, Denk demonstrated that its new device could produce 700g of water in one hour.

With additional funding, Denk expects to show production of 2.5kg of oxygen in four hours using electrolysis. The process is also expected to require around 10kW of electricity.