In order to maintain sustainable crewed bases and settlements on the Moon astronauts will need a reliable water supply.
Water also provides a source of hydrogen and oxygen for breathable air supplies and to power fuel cells for vehicles.
Water ice is abundant on the moon but much of it has never seen sunlight, is as hard as steel, and contaminated with lunar dust.
Now the UK Space Agency is working in collaboration with the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and Challenge Works to fund research into water purifying technologies.
The Aqualunar Challenge has awarded ten UK-led finalist teams with £30,000 each to develop their technologies.
The finalists include Titania-Diamond Annular Reactor (TiDAR) developed by Nascent Semiconductor Ltd, County Durham.
SonoChem System developed by Naicker Scientific Ltd, Gloucestershire. Ganymede’s Chalice developed by British Interplanetary Society.
AquaLunarPure developed by Queen Mary University.
Cyclic Volatile Extractor (CVE) by Minima Design Ltd, Suffolk.
FRANK – Filtered Regolith Aqua Neutralisation Kit by RedSpace Ltd.
I-LUNASYS: Innovative lunar water resource system by Perspective Space-Tech Ltd.
Lunasonic by Shaun Fletcher and Dr Lukman Yusuf, University of Glasgow.
Regolith Ice Plasma Purifier for Lunar Exploration (RIPPLE) by Regolithix Ltd.
And the Static Water Extraction System (SWES) – developed by Interstellar Mapping, London.
These technologies developed for the Moon’s harsh environment will hopefully also be deployed on Earth where access to clean drinking water is limited.
Learn more at https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-space-agency-awards-ten-technologies-to-purify-water-frozen-in-moons-soil
Thumbnail credit: NASA
