How did the lunar soil become oxygen? Why was this scheme finally eliminated?

The moon is an uninhabitable place. There is dust, no water and no air for us to breathe. But there is a lot of oxygen on the moon: there is oxygen on the surface of the moon, and there is surface soil and debris on the surface of the moon. Scientists have found that the extraction process does not produce waste. On the one hand, we can get a lot of oxygen. On the other hand, many closely related metal alloys can be obtained. These are all very useful for the future lunar base.

Thanks to the soil samples on the surface of the moon before, we know that the oxygen content of the moon is quite rich. About 40% to 45% of the weight in the surface soil of the moon is oxygen, which is by far the most abundant. These soil samples are too precious to be directly used in experiments, but having them means that we can copy the soil with the same composition with earth materials. This kind? Shanzhai? Lunar soil is called simulated lunar soil.

In the past, some people tried to extract oxygen from the surface soil of the moon, such as chemically reducing iron oxide with hydrogen to produce water, and then electrolyzing hydrogen and oxygen from sewage; Or a similar process of replacing hydrogen with methane. However, these technologies are either low-yield, too complicated, or require extremely high temperatures to melt the surface of the moon.

This process uses molten salt electrolysis. This is the first example that scientists can extract about all the oxygen from the powder in the simulated topsoil. In this case, the output of alternative oxygen inhalation method is very low, or the ultra-high temperature above 1600 degrees Celsius is needed to melt the lunar topsoil.

First, put the lunar topsoil into the grid line basket. Then add calcium chloride or electrolyte, heat the mixture to about 950 degrees Celsius, and don't let the mixture melt. Second, use current. This will extract oxygen and transfer the salt to the anode, where it can be easily removed.

This discovery means that even if it turns out that oxygen can be extracted from the moon's suspected water ice reserves, this technology is still valuable.