Sierra Space successfully tests equipment for extracting oxygen from the lunar soil
In a press release this week Sierra Space revealed that it has successfully tested an extraction system that can gather up the abrasive lunar regolith and then heat it to high temperatures in order to extract and use the oxygen contained in that soil.
Temperatures in which the Sierra Space Carbothermal Oxygen Production Reactor were tested ranged from minus 45 degrees Celsius to 1,800 degrees Celsius. In addition to the challenges of functioning from sub-zero to hotter-than-lava temperatures, the hardware was required to move the simulated lunar regolith – a very abrasive and jagged material because it does not have the weathering processes found on Earth – through its system. The potentially damaging particles were handled effectively by the hardware and gasses were successfully sealed inside the reactor, thanks to Sierra Space’s use of a patent-pending valve design that previously demonstrated functionality to greater than 10,000 cycles.
The tests confirmed that Sierra Space’s system can successfully handle regolith that would be delivered from a lunar rover or robotic arm and automatically bring it into the reaction chamber, perform the carbothermal reduction reaction process to extract the oxygen from the minerals in the regolith, and remove the processed regolith from the system so the operation can be repeated.
This research is similar to the extraction system the Chinese are developing, though it appears Sierra’s system appears considerably closer to a finished product, as it is already being tested.
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In a press release this week Sierra Space revealed that it has successfully tested an extraction system that can gather up the abrasive lunar regolith and then heat it to high temperatures in order to extract and use the oxygen contained in that soil.
Temperatures in which the Sierra Space Carbothermal Oxygen Production Reactor were tested ranged from minus 45 degrees Celsius to 1,800 degrees Celsius. In addition to the challenges of functioning from sub-zero to hotter-than-lava temperatures, the hardware was required to move the simulated lunar regolith – a very abrasive and jagged material because it does not have the weathering processes found on Earth – through its system. The potentially damaging particles were handled effectively by the hardware and gasses were successfully sealed inside the reactor, thanks to Sierra Space’s use of a patent-pending valve design that previously demonstrated functionality to greater than 10,000 cycles.
The tests confirmed that Sierra Space’s system can successfully handle regolith that would be delivered from a lunar rover or robotic arm and automatically bring it into the reaction chamber, perform the carbothermal reduction reaction process to extract the oxygen from the minerals in the regolith, and remove the processed regolith from the system so the operation can be repeated.
This research is similar to the extraction system the Chinese are developing, though it appears Sierra’s system appears considerably closer to a finished product, as it is already being tested.
Readers!
My annual February birthday fund-raising drive for Behind the Black is now over. Thank you to everyone who donated or subscribed. While not a record-setter, the donations were more than sufficient and slightly above average.
As I have said many times before, I can’t express what it means to me to get such support, especially as no one is required to pay anything to read my work. Thank you all again!
For those readers who like my work here at Behind the Black and haven't contributed so far, please consider donating or subscribing. My analysis of space, politics, and culture, taken from the perspective of an historian, is almost always on the money and ahead of the game. For example, in 2020 I correctly predicted that the COVID panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Every one of those 2020 conclusions has turned out right.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
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I suspect the processed regolith “slag” is valuable as well–silicon and metals to be separated and refined in another downstream process.
That “slag”, especially when hot, might best be used as paving to reduce the dust problem. There‘s going to be a lot of it!
“Anthrofuturism” has some interesting videos about lunar development.
It’s an impressive test, but do the numbers work? The article doesn’t say how much oxygen from how much regolith.
My “how much oxygen do people need?” search results are returning numbers in liters (500-600), which is not helpful since gas compresses. Adding “kg” resulted in an oh-so-trustworthy AI summary of “Based on the search results, the estimated oxygen requirement for one person in one day is approximately 1 kg.”
Making the yuge assumption that’s correct: How much regolith is required for 1kg of oxygen?