Increased interest and investment in space exploration are pushing efforts to develop the technologies needed to make the moon a viable hub of manufacturing, construction and even human life.
A research team from Waterloo Engineering's Laboratory of Emerging Energy Research (LEER) is looking into processing lunar regolith, the moon's top layer of soil and dust, into usable materials for life support, energy generation and construction.
"Lunar regolith contains lots of metallic dust embedded with oxygen," said lead researcher Connor MacRobbie, a PhD candidate supervised by professors Dr. John Wen and Dr. Jean-Pierre Hickey in Waterloo's Department of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering.
"Because it already contains oxygen, we can utilize it, without the need for atmospheric oxygen, to produce thermal energy," MacRobbie said. "This is called a thermite reaction, which is useful in space because there is no readily available oxygen."
Using the thermite reaction to repurpose salvaged space debris also provides materials for maintaining and developing solar satellite systems in space, ensuring power for further space exploration.
"Our research is turning science fiction into reality," says MacRobbie. "Our goal is to help build the infrastructure and technology that will allow sustainable human settlement on the moon – and beyond."
Go to Using the moon's soil to support life, energy generation and construction for the full story.