China's innovation for sustainable lunar living
Chinese researchers have created a way to turn lunar soil into water, oxygen, and rocket fuel—potentially letting astronauts live on the Moon longer without pricey Earth shipments.
Their study came out July 16, 2025.
How the process works
Using sunlight to heat up samples from China's 2020 Chang'E-5 mission, this tech sparks chemical reactions that create essentials like water and oxygen.
That's a big deal since sending water from Earth costs about $83,000 per gallon—and each astronaut needs around four gallons every day.
One-step process could make permanent Moon bases more doable
This one-step process could make setting up permanent Moon bases much more doable (and affordable), paving the way for deeper space travel.
The catch? Scientists still need to see if it works under the Moon's wild conditions—think extreme heat and radiation.
Living—and launching—from the Moon might be closer than we think
The team is working on making their system tougher so it can handle real lunar life.
If they pull it off, living—and launching—from the Moon might be closer than we think.