How Will We Extract Water on the Moon? We Asked a NASA Technologist

Extracting water on the Moon involves using techniques like mining lunar ice from permanently shadowed regions near the poles. Robotic missions can use drills and excavators to gather ice, which can then be heated to release water vapor. This vapor can be captured and condensed into liquid water for various purposes, such as supporting future lunar habitats or producing rocket propellant.

We know the Moon contains water, but, could future astronauts access and make use of it? That’s the goal. At NASA, we’re actively trying to answer that question. Once it lands at the lunar south pole, our PRIME-1 — Polar Resources Ice Mining Experiment-1 – will robotically sample and analyze ice from beneath the lunar surface, contributing to our search for water on the Moon: https://go.nasa.gov/2QygCmF

Producers: Jessica Wilde, Scott Bednar

Editor: James Lucas
Credit: NASA