Incredible resource on the Moon

NASA reportedly signed a deal with the Australian Space Agency to send an Australian-made rover to the moon back in October to collect lunar rocks, The Sun reports. There is a lot of oxygen on the Moon despite its very thin atmosphere but it’s not in a gaseous form. The moon’s oxygen is trapped in the layer of rock and fine dust that covers the surface called the regolith. If oxygen from the regolith could be extracted, there are chances it could potentially support human life.Oxygen can be found in a bunch of minerals in the ground. Silica, aluminium, and iron and magnesium oxides are frequently found on the Moon.Most of these minerals come from the impacts of meteorites crashing into the moon’s surface and they contain oxygen but it’s not in a way that is accessible to our lungs.The regolith is made up of around 45 per cent oxygen that is bound into the Moon’s minerals. The bonds can be broken apart with energy that needs to be supported with solar energy or other sources that could be made available on the Moon.To do this, solid metal oxide would have to be converted into liquid form, which is possible on Earth but the equipment would have to be transported to the Moon with enough energy to run it.If we could somehow extract that oxygen, it’s possible that the Moon could provide oxygen to everyone on Earth for around 100,000 years.It all depends on how effectively the oxygen could be extracted and this is just an approximation. Until then, rocks are still being collected via NASA’s Artemis mission and being used for further study.This article originally appeared on The Sun and was reproduced with permission Via news.com.au — Australia’s leading news site https://www.news.com.au