Sunlight Extracts Oxygen From Regolith Using Solar Chemistry
NASA’s Carbothermal Reduction Demonstration (CaRD) project completed an important step toward using local resources to support human exploration on the Moon. The CaRD team performed integrated prototype testing that used concentrated solar energy to extract oxygen from simulated lunar soil, while confirming the production of carbon monoxide through a solar-driven chemical reaction. If deployed on the Moon, this technology could enable the production of propellant using […]
Published by NASA on 02/13/2026