via Fox News (via NASA/John Frassanito and Associates)

Fox News reports that NASA is seriously looking at extracting water from lunar soil. After the recent discovery of widespread water on the moon, NASA’s conceptual models have moved from dream to reality.

Since 2004, NASA has been looking at ways of using resources on the moon to supply future manned missions and colonies. These resources are crucial for any planned missions in the 2020s. The timetable may have, indeed, been shortened because of these recent discoveries. Some of the necessary technologies have been tested on environments on Earth and are developing quickly.

One promising technology takes advantage of the chemistry of the moon dirt – or regolith – by adding hydrogen, which then reacts with iron oxide in the moon dirt to produce water. Such hydrogen reduction reactors heat the regolith to about 1,832 degrees Fahrenheit (1,000 degrees Celsius) so that the proper chemical reactions can occur.

A process known as electrolysis can then split the extracted water into pure hydrogen and oxygen, either for rocket fuel or astronaut air supplies.

NASA has already tested a hydrogen reduction reactor on Hawaii’s Mauna Kea Volcano. During a year-long operation, it produced 1,455 pounds (660 kg) of oxygen from a rocky soil containing 5 percent iron oxide. Now engineers have a second-generation system in the works that can produce 2,205 pounds (1,000 kg).

Water mining technology may also be used for Mars missions and colonies, making it a technology that NASA is anxious to perfect in the years to come.