Lunar soil could support life on the Moon
image:
Chang’E-5 lunar soil sitting at the bottom of a photothermal reactor.
view moreCredit: Sun et al.
Scientists have developed a technology that may help humans survive on the Moon. In a study publishing July 16 in the Cell Press journal Joule, researchers extracted water from lunar soil and used it to convert carbon dioxide into oxygen and chemicals for fuel—potentially opening new doors for future deep space exploration by mitigating the need to transport essential resources like water and fuel all the way from Earth.
“We never fully imagined the ‘magic’ that the lunar soil possessed,” said Lu Wang of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen. “The biggest surprise for us was the tangible success of this integrated approach. The one-step integration of lunar H2O extraction and photothermal CO2 catalysis could enhance energy utilization efficiency and decrease the cost and complexity of infrastructure development.”
Space agencies have floated the idea of using the Moon as an outpost for far-flung explorations of the cosmos for decades. However, the need to supply such a base with adequate resources to support its inhabitants—especially water—has been a barrier to making it a reality. A single gallon of water costs about $83,000 to ship by rocket, according to the study, with each astronaut drinking about four gallons per day.
Soil samples analyzed from the Chang’E-5 mission provide evidence of water on the lunar surface, which the authors suggest could allow human explorers to harness the Moon’s natural resources to meet their needs while avoiding the costs and logistical challenges of transporting those resources. However, previously developed strategies for extracting water from lunar soil involved multiple energy-intensive steps and didn’t break down CO2 for fuel and other essential uses.
To advance this research, Wang and colleagues developed a technology that would both extract water from lunar soil and directly use it to convert the CO2 exhaled by astronauts into carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrogen gas, which could then be used to make fuels and oxygen for the astronauts to breathe. The technology accomplishes this feat through a novel photothermal strategy, which converts light from the Sun into heat.
The scientists tested the technology using lunar soil samples gathered during the Chang’E mission as well as simulated lunar samples and a batch reactor filled with CO2 gas that used a light-concentrating system to drive the photothermal process. The team used ilmenite, a heavy black mineral and one of several reported water reservoirs in lunar soil, to measure photothermal activity and analyze the mechanisms of the process.
Despite the technology’s success in the lab, the extreme lunar environment still poses challenges that will complicate its usage on the Moon, according to the authors, including drastic temperature fluctuations, intense radiation, and low gravity. Additionally, lunar soil in its natural environment does not have a uniform composition, which leads to it having inconsistent properties, while CO2 from astronauts’ exhalations might not be enough to offer a basis for all the water, fuel, and oxygen they need. Technological limitations also continue to present a barrier, with current catalytic performance still insufficient to fully support human life in environments beyond Earth, said Wang.
“Overcoming these technical hurdles and significant associated costs in development, deployment, and operation will be crucial to realizing sustainable lunar water utilization and space exploration,” the authors write.
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Joule, Sun et al., “Inherent lunar water enabled photothermal CO2 catalysis” https://www.cell.com/joule/fulltext/S2542-4351(25)00187-4
This research was supported by funding from the National Key R&D Program of China, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, The Program for Guangdong Introducing Innovative and Entrepreneurial Teams, the Special Fund for the Sci-tech Innovation Strategy of Guangdong Province, the Guangdong Basic Research Center of Excellence for Aggregate Science, The Shenzhen Natural Science Foundation, The Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Eco-materials and Renewable Energy, the NSF of Jiangsu Province, and the University Development Fund.
Joule (@Joule_CP), published monthly by Cell Press, is a home for outstanding and insightful research, analysis, and ideas addressing the need for more sustainable energy. A sister journal to Cell, Joule spans all scales of energy research, from fundamental laboratory research into energy conversion and storage to impactful analysis at the global level. Visit http://www.cell.com/joule. To receive Cell Press media alerts, contact press@cell.com.
Journal
Joule
Method of Research
Experimental study
Subject of Research
Not applicable
Article Title
Inherent lunar water enabled photothermal CO2 catalysis
Article Publication Date
16-Jul-2025
Paper examines role of seasonal frost in brine formation on Mars
Frost-covered regions present the best candidates for the future habitability of Mars and further astrobiological exploration, research into brines shows
University of Arkansas
image:
Vincent Chevrier
view moreCredit: University Relations
Due to extreme temperatures and the dryness of Mars, it’s thought to be impossible for liquid water to form on the planet’s surface, a critical precondition for habitability. The only hope of finding liquid water appears to be in the form of brines, which are liquids with high concentrations of salts that can freeze at much lower temperatures. But the question of whether brines can even form on Mars has yet to be answered.
Vincent Chevrier, an associate research professor at the University of Arkansas’ Center for Space and Planetary Sciences, has been studying that question for 20 years and now thinks he knows the answer: ‘yes they can.’
His case for the existence of liquid brines on Mars was recently published in Nature Communications Earth and Environment.
Chevrier used meteorological data taken from the Viking 2 landing site on Mars combined with computer modeling to determine that brines can develop for a brief period of time during late winter and early spring from melting frost. This challenges the assumption that Mars is entirely devoid of liquid water on the surface and suggests that similar processes may occur in other frost-bearing regions, particularly in the mid-to-high latitudes.
Data from Viking 2, which landed on Mars in 1976, was used because, Chevrier said, “It was the only mission that clearly observed, identified and characterized frost on Mars.” Melting frost presents the best chance to find liquid brines on Mars, but there’s a catch: frost on Mars tends to sublimate quickly, which means it transitions from a solid to a gas without spending time in a liquid state due to Mars’ unique atmospheric conditions.
But by sifting through the Viking 2 data, combined with data from the Mars Climate Database, Chevrier was able to determine that there was a brief window in late winter and early spring when the conditions were right for the formation of brines. Specifically, there is a period of one Martian month (roughly equivalent to two Earth months) where the conditions were ideal at two points during the day: roughly in the early morning and late afternoon.
There is an abundance of salts on Mars, and Chevrier has long speculated that perchlorates would be the most promising salts for brine formation since they have extremely low eutectic temperatures (which is the melting point of a salt–water mixture). Calcium perchlorate brine solidifies at minus 75 degrees Celsius, while Mars has an average surface temperature of minus 50C at the equator, suggesting there could be a zone where calcium perchlorate brine could stay liquid.
Modeling based off known data confirmed that twice a day for a month in late winter and early spring there is a perfect window in which calcium perchlorate brines can form because the temperature hovers right around the sweet spot of minus 75C. At other times of day it is either too hot or too cold.
While Chevrier’s findings are not slam-dunk proof of brines, they make a strong case for their existence in small amounts on a recurring basis. Even if there were direct evidence of a calcium perchlorate brine detected by a past or future lander, it would not be in large amounts. Calcium perchlorate is only about 1% of the Martian regolith, and the frost that does form on Mars is extremely thin – far less than a millimeter thick. So it is unlikely to generate much water, certainly not enough to support human life.
But it doesn’t mean the planet couldn’t have supported life adapted to a much colder, drier planet.
Either way, Chevrier is encouraged to find that brines would form under established conditions and looks forward to further confirmation. He notes in the conclusion of his paper: “The strong correlation between brine formation and seasonal frost cycles highlights specific periods when transient water activity is most likely, which could guide the planning of future astrobiological investigations.
“Robotic landers equipped with in situ hygrometers [for measuring moisture content in air] and chemical sensors could target these seasonal windows to directly detect brine formation and constrain the timescales over which these liquids persist.”
Journal
Communications Earth & Environment
Method of Research
Computational simulation/modeling
Subject of Research
Not applicable
Article Title
Perchlorate brine formation from frost at the Viking 2 landing site
For the first time, astronomers witness the dawn of a new solar system
image:
This is HOPS-315, a baby star where astronomers have observed evidence for the earliest stages of planet formation. The image was taken with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), in which ESO is a partner. Together with data from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), these observations show that hot minerals are beginning to solidify.
In orange we see the distribution of carbon monoxide, blowing away from the star in a butterfly-shaped wind. In blue we see a narrow jet of silicon monoxide, also beaming away from the star. These gaseous winds and jets are common around baby stars like HOPS-315.
Together the ALMA and JWST observations indicate that, in addition to these features, there is also a disc of gaseous silicon monoxide around the star that is condensing into solid silicates –– the first stages of planetary formation.
view moreCredit: ALMA(ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/M. McClure et al.
International researchers have, for the first time, pinpointed the moment when planets began to form around a star beyond the Sun. Using the ALMA telescope, in which the European Southern Observatory (ESO) is a partner, and the James Webb Space Telescope, they have observed the creation of the first specks of planet-forming material — hot minerals just beginning to solidify. This finding marks the first time a planetary system has been identified at such an early stage in its formation and opens a window to the past of our own Solar System.
"For the first time, we have identified the earliest moment when planet formation is initiated around a star other than our Sun,” says Melissa McClure, a professor at Leiden University in the Netherlands and lead author of the new study, published today in Nature.
Co-author Merel van ‘t Hoff, a professor at Purdue University, USA, compares their findings to "a picture of the baby Solar System", saying that “we're seeing a system that looks like what our Solar System looked like when it was just beginning to form.”
This newborn planetary system is emerging around HOPS-315, a ‘proto’ or baby star that sits some 1300 light-years away from us and is an analogue of the nascent Sun. Around such baby stars, astronomers often see discs of gas and dust known as ‘protoplanetary discs’, which are the birthplaces of new planets. While astronomers have previously seen young discs that contain newborn, massive, Jupiter-like planets, McClure says, “we've always known that the first solid parts of planets, or ‘planetesimals’, must form further back in time, at earlier stages.”
In our Solar System, the very first solid material to condense near Earth’s present location around the Sun is found trapped within ancient meteorites. Astronomers age-date these primordial rocks to determine when the clock started on our Solar System’s formation. Such meteorites are packed full of crystalline minerals that contain silicon monoxide (SiO) and can condense at the extremely high temperatures present in young planetary discs. Over time, these newly condensed solids bind together, sowing the seeds for planet formation as they gain both size and mass. The first kilometre-sized planetesimals in the Solar System, which grew to become planets such as Earth or Jupiter’s core, formed just after the condensation of these crystalline minerals.
With their new discovery, astronomers have found evidence of these hot minerals beginning to condense in the disc around HOPS-315. Their results show that SiO is present around the baby star in its gaseous state, as well as within these crystalline minerals, suggesting it is only just beginning to solidify. "This process has never been seen before in a protoplanetary disc — or anywhere outside our Solar System," says co-author Edwin Bergin, a professor at the University of Michigan, USA.
These minerals were first identified using the James Webb Space Telescope, a joint project of the US, European and Canadian space agencies. To find out where exactly the signals were coming from, the team observed the system with ALMA, the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, which is operated by ESO together with international partners in Chile’s Atacama Desert.
With these data, the team determined that the chemical signals were coming from a small region of the disc around the star equivalent to the orbit of the asteroid belt around the Sun. “We're really seeing these minerals at the same location in this extrasolar system as where we see them in asteroids in the Solar System,“ says co-author Logan Francis, a postdoctoral researcher at Leiden University.
Because of this, the disc of HOPS-315 provides a wonderful analogue for studying our own cosmic history. As van ‘t Hoff says, “this system is one of the best that we know to actually probe some of the processes that happened in our Solar System." It also provides astronomers with a new opportunity to study early planet formation, by standing in as a substitute for newborn solar systems across the galaxy.
ESO astronomer and European ALMA Programme Manager Elizabeth Humphreys, who did not take part in the study, says: “I was really impressed by this study, which reveals a very early stage of planet formation. It suggests that HOPS-315 can be used to understand how our own Solar System formed. This result highlights the combined strength of JWST and ALMA for exploring protoplanetary discs.”
More information
This research was presented in the paper “Refractory solid condensation detected in an embedded protoplanetary disk” (doi:10.1038/s41586-025-09163-z) to appear in Nature.
The team is composed of M. K. McClure (Leiden Observatory, Leiden University, The Netherlands [Leiden]), M. van ’t Hoff (Department of Astronomy, The University of Michigan, Michigan, USA [Michigan] and Purdue University, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Indiana, USA), L. Francis (Leiden), Edwin Bergin (Michigan), W.R. M. Rocha (Leiden), J. A. Sturm (Leiden), D. Harsono (Institute of Astronomy, Department of Physics, National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan), E. F. van Dishoeck (Leiden), J. H. Black (Chalmers University of Technology, Department of Space, Earth and Environment, Onsala Space Observatory, Sweden), J. A. Noble (Physique des Interactions Ioniques et Moléculaires, CNRS, Aix Marseille Université, France), D. Qasim (Southwest Research Institute, Texas, USA), E. Dartois (Institut des Sciences Moléculaires d’Orsay, CNRS, Université Paris-Saclay, France.)
The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), an international astronomy facility, is a partnership of ESO, the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institutes of Natural Sciences (NINS) of Japan in cooperation with the Republic of Chile. ALMA is funded by ESO on behalf of its Member States, by NSF in cooperation with the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) and the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) in Taiwan and by NINS in cooperation with the Academia Sinica (AS) in Taiwan and the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI). ALMA construction and operations are led by ESO on behalf of its Member States; by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), managed by Associated Universities, Inc. (AUI), on behalf of North America; and by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ) on behalf of East Asia. The Joint ALMA Observatory (JAO) provides the unified leadership and management of the construction, commissioning and operation of ALMA.
The European Southern Observatory (ESO) enables scientists worldwide to discover the secrets of the Universe for the benefit of all. We design, build and operate world-class observatories on the ground — which astronomers use to tackle exciting questions and spread the fascination of astronomy — and promote international collaboration for astronomy. Established as an intergovernmental organisation in 1962, today ESO is supported by 16 Member States (Austria, Belgium, Czechia, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom), along with the host state of Chile and with Australia as a Strategic Partner. ESO’s headquarters and its visitor centre and planetarium, the ESO Supernova, are located close to Munich in Germany, while the Chilean Atacama Desert, a marvellous place with unique conditions to observe the sky, hosts our telescopes. ESO operates three observing sites: La Silla, Paranal and Chajnantor. At Paranal, ESO operates the Very Large Telescope and its Very Large Telescope Interferometer, as well as survey telescopes such as VISTA. Also at Paranal ESO will host and operate the Cherenkov Telescope Array South, the world’s largest and most sensitive gamma-ray observatory. Together with international partners, ESO operates ALMA on Chajnantor, a facility that observes the skies in the millimetre and submillimetre range. At Cerro Armazones, near Paranal, we are building “the world’s biggest eye on the sky” — ESO’s Extremely Large Telescope. From our offices in Santiago, Chile we support our operations in the country and engage with Chilean partners and society.
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Journal
Nature
Article Title
Refractory solid condensation detected in an embedded protoplanetary disk
Article Publication Date
16-Jul-2025
Skimming the Sun, probe sheds light on space weather threats
By AFP
July 15, 2025
This photo provided by NASA on July 15, 2025, was taken by Parker Solar Probe's WISPR instrument during its record-breaking flyby of the Sun, showing the solar wind racing out from the Sun's corona, or outer atmosphere. — © AFP PHILIPPE LOPEZ
Issam AHMED
Eruptions of plasma piling atop one another, solar wind streaming out in exquisite detail — the closest-ever images of our Sun are a gold mine for scientists.
Captured by the Parker Solar Probe during its closest approach to our star starting on December 24, 2024, the images were recently released by NASA and are expected to deepen our understanding of space weather and help guard against solar threats to Earth.
– A historic achievement –
“We have been waiting for this moment since the late Fifties,” Nour Rawafi, project scientist for the mission at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, told AFP.
Previous spacecraft have studied the Sun, but from much farther away.
Parker was launched in 2018 and is named after the late physicist Eugene Parker, who in 1958 theorized the existence of the solar wind — a constant stream of electrically charged particles that fan out through the solar system.
The probe recently entered its final orbit where its closest approach takes it to just 3.8 million miles from the Sun’s surface — a milestone first achieved on Christmas Eve 2024 and repeated twice since on an 88-day cycle.
To put the proximity in perspective: if the distance between Earth and the Sun measured one foot, Parker would be hovering just half an inch away.
Its heat shield was engineered to withstand up to 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit (1,370 degrees Celsius) — but to the team’s delight, it has only experienced around 2,000F (1090C) so far, revealing the limits of theoretical modeling.
Remarkably, the probe’s instruments, just a yard (meter) behind the shield, remain at little more than room temperature.
– Staring at the Sun –
The spacecraft carries a single imager, the Wide-Field Imager for Solar Probe (WISPR), which captured data as Parker plunged through the Sun’s corona, or outer atmosphere.
Stitched into a seconds-long video, the new images reveal coronal mass ejections (CMEs) — massive bursts of charged particles that drive space weather — in high resolution for the first time.
“We had multiple CMEs piling up on top of each other, which is what makes them so special,” Rawafi said. “It’s really amazing to see that dynamic happening there.”
Such eruptions triggered the widespread auroras seen across much of the world last May, as the Sun reached the peak of its 11-year cycle.
This photo provided by NASA on July 15, 2025, was taken by Parker Solar Probe’s WISPR instrument during its record-breaking flyby of the Sun, showing the solar wind racing out from the Sun’s corona, or outer atmosphere – Copyright AFP PHILIPPE LOPEZ
Another striking feature is how the solar wind, flowing from the left of the image, traces a structure called the heliospheric current sheet: an invisible boundary where the Sun’s magnetic field flips from north to south.
It extends through the solar system in the shape of a twirling skirt and is critical to study, as it governs how solar eruptions propagate and how strongly they can affect Earth.
– Why it matters –
Space weather can have serious consequences, such as overwhelming power grids, disrupting communications, and threatening satellites.
As thousands more satellites enter orbit in the coming years, tracking them and avoiding collisions will become increasingly difficult — especially during solar disturbances, which can cause spacecraft to drift slightly from their intended orbits.
Rawafi is particularly excited about what lies ahead, as the Sun heads toward the minimum of its cycle, expected in five to six years.
Historically, some of the most extreme space weather events have occurred during this declining phase — including the infamous Halloween Solar Storms of 2003, which forced astronauts aboard the International Space Station to shelter in a more shielded area.
“Capturing some of these big, huge eruptions…would be a dream,” he said.
Parker still has far more fuel than engineers initially expected and could continue operating for decades — until its solar panels degrade to the point where they can no longer generate enough power to keep the spacecraft properly oriented.
When its mission does finally end, the probe will slowly disintegrate — becoming, in Rawafi’s words, “part of the solar wind itself.”
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