Life on earth: how lunar soil could help us exist in space

Moon soil can convert carbon dioxide into oxygen, raising the possibility that it could be used to support human life in space, a study has found.

- SAPHORA SMITH

The report published in the scientific journal Foule found moon soil contains active compounds that could be used, along with sunlight and carbon dioxide, to produce water, oxygen and fuel to support life on a moonbase and enable further exploration of space.

“Our strategy provides a scenario for a sustainable and affordable extraterrestrial living environment,” Yingfang Yao, a material scientist from Nanjing University in China and lead author of the report. "If we want to carry out large-scale exploration of the extraterrestrial world, we will need to think of ways to reduce payload, meaning relying on as little supplies from Earth as possible and using extraterrestrial resources instead.”