A NASA experiment has shown that sunlight alone can drive a chemical process capable of releasing oxygen from lunar soil.
The test used a prototype reactor designed for future Moon missions. Instead of electrical heating, mirrors concentrated solar energy into a chamber filled with simulated lunar regolith. Temperatures climbed high enough to trigger a reaction that separated oxygen from minerals in the dust, while also producing carbon monoxide as a by-product.
That gas is not wasted. Engineers can process it further to recover oxygen or convert it into fuel ingredients needed for spacecraft propulsion.
For mission planners, the result addresses a long-standing problem. Every kilogram of air, water or propellant sent from Earth dramatically increases launch costs.
Why Moon Dust Matters
At first glance, the lunar surface looks like lifeless grey powder.
In reality, that material contains enormous quantities of oxygen. The atoms are trapped inside silicate minerals and metal oxides formed billions of years ago when volcanic activity shaped the Moon’s crust.
Scientists estimate that roughly 45 percent of typical lunar regolith is oxygen by mass.
The difficulty is freeing it.
Those chemical bonds are strong and require extreme heat to break. The Carbothermal Reduction Demonstration (abbreviated to CaRD) investigates whether that heat can come directly from sunlight rather than power-hungry equipment.
In the latest integrated test, the system focused solar energy into a specialised reactor containing lunar soil simulant. Instruments confirmed the chemical reaction released oxygen while forming carbon monoxide as a secondary product.
Living Off The Lunar Landscape
Future astronauts cannot rely on frequent supply flights.
Instead, space agencies increasingly plan missions around in-situ resource utilisation, often shortened to ISRU. The concept is simple: use local materials to produce essentials such as air, water and propellant.
If oxygen can be generated directly from lunar soil, it would support both life-support systems and rocket fuel production. That dramatically changes the logistics of maintaining a sustained human presence on the Moon.
Several organisations contributed to the CaRD hardware. Sierra Space built the reactor itself. Solar concentrator technology came from NASA’s Glenn Research Center together with Composite Mirror Applications.
Electronics and analytical systems were developed at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, while overall systems engineering was coordinated by NASA’s Johnson Space Center.
The same technology could eventually be adapted for Mars. There, similar chemical systems could process the planet’s carbon-dioxide atmosphere into oxygen and methane, which are the key ingredients for propellant needed to leave the planet.
Published by Kerry Harrison
Kerry’s been writing professionally for over 14 years, after graduating with a First Class Honours Degree in Multimedia Journalism from Canterbury Christ Church University. She joined Orbital Today in 2022. She covers everything from UK launch updates to how the wider space ecosystem is evolving. She enjoys digging into the detail and explaining complex topics in a way that feels straightforward. Before writing about space, Kerry spent years working with cybersecurity companies. She’s written a lot about threat intelligence, data protection, and how cyber and space are increasingly overlapping, whether that’s satellite security or national defence. With a strong background in tech writing, she’s used to making tricky, technical subjects more approachable. That mix of innovation, complexity, and real-world impact is what keeps her interested in the space sector.