NASA develops a huge pipeline to generate oxygen at the south pole of the Moon with the dream of colonizing it

For the POT, having a permanent human presence on the Moon is a dream that depends on resources that at the same time reduce costs and risks in the missions. Because, has developed a huge pipeline to generate oxygen, called L-SPoP.

The american space agency revealed that, in alliance with the United States government, it has invested significant funds to develop the ability to extract oxygen from lunar regolith and water from lunar ice.

The report details that the oxygen will be used for human habitats, rovers, other life support systems with a constant supply of high purity oxygen for human consumption and oxidant for launch vehicles departing from the Moon.

These oxygen removal technologies are expected to be demonstrated on a large scale on the Moon beginning in 2024 and provide direct support to Artemis Program astronauts beginning in 2026one year after the scheduled date for the return of man to the satellite.

Details about L-SPoP

Current funded efforts for oxygen extraction from the lunar south pole consist of bottle oxygen in compressed gas tanks or liquefy it and store it. Either approach requires transporting tanks to various facilities for use.

The process of moving this oxygen in the rovers consumes more energy than the extraction process and is believed to be the most expensive aspect of obtaining oxygen in situ for use on the Moon, considering the long distances an extraction area will travel. of resources, a human habitat or a liquefaction plant.

“For this NIAC Phase I project, we propose to perform an end-to-end system level design study of L-SPoP. A lunar pipeline has never been sought and will revolutionize lunar surface operations for the Artemis program and reduce cost and risk!”, exposes NASA.

The space agency added: “We plan to explore and evaluate multiple system architectures for a lunar pipeline, identify enabling and enhancing technologies, and produce a comprehensive roadmap for developing this innovative infrastructure.”.

The initial concept is a 5 km pipeline to transport gaseous oxygen from an oxygen production source.eg Molten Regolith Electrolysis (MRE) extraction site or any other source, to an oxygen liquefaction/storage plant near a lunar base.