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Guest Thinkers

Water for Moonbases?

Finding frozen water in some parts of the moon has implications for space exploration including the possible supply of water and oxygen for a manned moonbase.
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“Finding useful quantities of frozen water on the moon would have implications for space exploration. Not only would it provide water and oxygen for a manned moonbase, it would also give astronauts a source of hydrogen to use in rocket fuel. Extracting gases from water becomes cost-effective when the amount of ice in lunar soil rises above 1%… At the levels found, astronauts would have to process one cubic metre of lunar soil to get 100 millitres of water, or less than a fifth of a pint.” “What we found was…an oasis in an otherwise desert on the moon…”

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