NASA's PILOT project could autonomously extract oxygen from lunar soil

We've got means to extract oxygen from water, a portable bar, and even ways to deprive entire server farms of the sustenance, but a new project being tackled by Lockheed Martin is hoping to create O2 on the moon. A critical part of NASA's PILOT (Precursor In-situ Lunar Oxygen Testbed) initiative, this digger bot will work hand-in-hand with a "processing plant that will add hydrogen to moon soil, heat it to 1,652-degrees Fahrenheit, condense the steam, and finally extract the oxygen." Additionally, the blue LIDAR (Light Detection And Ranging) box atop the three-foot-long machine can assist it in locating "oxygen-rich lunar soil and autonomously carry it to a processing plant." The overriding goal is to use the newly extracted O2 for air, or moreover, to combine it with hydrogen and produce water for the four astronauts that the lunar base could support. Unfortunately, there's no timetable as to when we'll actually see the PILOT roll into action, but we're most interested in porting this bad boy over to Mars along with half the traffic in LA.

[Via The Raw Feed]

[oshean @ Apr 6th 2007 9:56AM]

or.... they could they detonate a hydrogen A-bomb on the moon and complete the task in one fell swoop.

[Phillip Lamb @ Apr 6th 2007 10:11AM]

How insanely awesome is this... LiDAR -AND- oxygen generation. SciFi fans across the planet are geeking out this very moment.

[Kunikos @ Apr 6th 2007 10:39AM]

Forget Tiberium, your harvesters are makin' O2

[Geoffrey Sperl @ Apr 6th 2007 10:50AM]

Ahhh... terraforming. Kim Stanley Robinson must be thrilled to be reading this. ;)

[NarfPointZort @ Apr 6th 2007 11:33AM]

"and even ways to deprive entire server farms of the sustenance"
It ain't sustenance for a computer.

"Lockheed Martin is hoping to create O2 on the moon."
They want to extract it, not create it.

[Jon B @ Apr 6th 2007 11:35AM]

♫ Recall, Recall, Recall....

[BloodFalcon @ Apr 6th 2007 11:45AM]

If it is possible to add Hydrogen (the most abundant element in the universe) to oxygen -rich soil to make breathable air... that means that man could permanently colonize the moon, and mars.

I just hope in the future we dont end up fighting for air ala Total Recall.

LOL @ that tiberium harvester joke.

[PiTViPeR @ Apr 6th 2007 5:55PM]

Your Harvester Is Under Attack....
More Silos Needed.

[whiskey @ Apr 8th 2007 12:18AM]

Wasn't that "Robbinson Crusoe on Mars" the movie that featured an astronaut burning rocks to extract oxygen from them????