We are one step closer to life on the Moon

Digital image of Earth rising. Maps used for Octane visualization (https://visibleearth.nasa.gov/images/57752/blue-marble-land-surface-shallow-water-and-shaded-topography) — (Source: Getty Images)

It's been 56 years since Neil Armstrong stepped onto the moon, and he's forever etched into the annals of history.

However, much to the disappointment of humanity, others did not follow his example – literally.

The grey, blotchy orb doesn't look like an inviting place to live, but NASA plans to build habitats for astronauts and civilians on the moon by 2040.

Researchers in China say it's not as impossible as it might seem: lunar soil could potentially support life.

According to the study, scientists from the Chinese University of Hong Kong have developed a method for extracting water from chalky lunar soil.

This resulting water can then be used to convert carbon dioxide, which is what astronauts exhale, into carbon monoxide and hydrogen, which can be used to produce fuel and oxygen for astronauts to breathe.

A plane is silhouetted as it crosses the full moon of Buck in Adelanto, California, July 10, 2025. (Photo by Patrick T. Fallon/AFP) (Photo by Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images) — One of the most expensive aspects of colonising the Moon is delivering enough resources to support life (Photo: AFP)

Like Earth, fuel and food on the Moon will be expensive due to the high costs of sending the necessary goods into space.

Easy travel is critical for space missions, as delivering just one kilogram of cargo onto a rocket can cost more than £74,000.

This also applies to water. Scientists have calculated that it would cost £61,000 to ship one gallon of water to the Moon, which would barely be enough to quench an astronaut's thirst in a day.

However, the researchers say the technology could “potentially open new horizons for future deep space exploration” by eliminating these huge costs.

Lead researcher Lu Wang said: “We never imagined what kind of 'magical' power the lunar soil contains.”

Buzz Aldrin and the U.S. Flag on the Moon, 1969. Astronaut Buzz Aldrin, lunar module pilot of the first lunar landing mission, poses for a photograph next to an unfurled U.S. flag during an Apollo 11 spacewalk on the lunar surface. The Lunar Module (LM) is to the left, and the astronauts' footprints are clearly visible in the lunar soil. Astronaut Neil A. Armstrong, the spacecraft commander, took this image using a 70 mm Hasselblad lunar surface camera. While astronauts Armstrong and Aldrin descended in the Eagle LM to explore the Sea of Tranquility region of the Moon, astronaut Michael Collins, command module pilot, remained with the Command and Service Module (CSM) Columbia in lunar orbit. Artist: Neil Armstrong. (Photo: Heritage Space/Heritage Images via Getty Images) — Buzz Aldrin and the US flag on the moon, 1969. But when will it be our turn?
(Photos: Heritage Space/Heritage Images)

When it comes to the presence of water on the Moon, its appearance can be misleading: it has been preserved there by many asteroid and comet impacts.

Shadow craters at the lunar poles, known as permanently shadowed regions (PSRs), never receive sunlight, meaning minerals like ilmenite contain water ice inside.

The tool, developed by Chinese researchers, would involve extracting rheoglite (a layer of loose material covering solid rock) from ilmenite and heating it with sunlight to release water.

Carbon dioxide is then injected into the ilmenite, which leads to photothermal catalysis, a new technique where solar

Sourse: metro.co.uk