This British company has a contract to turn moon dust into oxygen

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Metalysis, a materials technology company based in South Yorkshire, England, said on Friday it had won a contract with the European Space Agency (ESA) to further develop a method of extracting alien oxygen from of materials found on the surface of the moon.
In research published this year, scientists affiliated with Metalysis said they could extract 96% of the oxygen from debris found on the moon’s surface, known as lunar regolith, and leave a metal alloy behind. mixed that could be used for construction.

The process, which was developed at the University of Cambridge, has already been set up to work on land. Now, Metalysis has received around £ 250,000 (roughly $ 329,000) in ESA funding to upgrade it in an alien environment, Ian Mellor, the company’s chief executive, told CNN Business.

The project is a step in the development of a sustainable source of oxygen on the moon – necessary to support human life on permanent lunar bases, and supported by agencies such as ESA, which has shown support for a “lunar village” – and to provide fuel for vehicles that land on the moon and depart from the moon.

The researchers also hope that by cultivating and producing essential resources such as oxygen on the moon, they will be able to significantly reduce the mass of payload that would be required to be launched from Earth.

“One of the main drivers of the project is being able to use the resources that are already on the moon, rather than having to take them from Earth to the moon – there is a pretty high cost to take things into space. , and the more you can use what’s there, the better, ”Mellor said.

NASA mission finds water on the moon's sunny surface

No human has set foot on the moon since 1972, but now the planet is in the sights of several space agencies.

As part of its Artemis program, NASA plans to land its first woman on the moon in 2024, as well as the first man since 1972.

In December 2017, US President Donald Trump signed Space Policy Directive 1, which called on NASA to send humans to the moon for “long-term exploration and use” and missions to other planets.

Meanwhile, a collaboration agreement was finalized between NASA and ESA in October, and the two agencies will work together on the lunar outpost Artemis Gateway, which will serve as a staging station for astronauts traveling from Earth. before they reach the surface of the moon.

CNN’s Ashley Strickland contributed reporting.

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