Lunar Oxygen and Water Production Tech Tested 56
savuporo writes "NASA and its industry partners organized a two-week lunar in-situ resource utilization field test in Hawaii. The tested machines included a few different rovers and prototype plants for generating oxygen and water from lunar regolith.
Astrotoday has a picture gallery and a video report.
This follows on the heels of the recent ESA lunar robotics challenge event held on Tenerife, which tasked student teams to build a lunar robot that would be able to search for water ice in lunar polar craters."
Re:in-situ resource utilization field test in Hawa (Score:5, Insightful)
I thought the test area resembled the surface of the moon to a large degree.
Re:in-situ resource utilization field test in Hawa (Score:5, Insightful)
If you demanded the hypothetical membership card of everyone who didn't RTFA, you'd be here alone.
Re:in-situ resource utilization field test in Hawa (Score:3, Insightful)
Because if there's one place on Earth that resembles the surface of the moon, it's Hawaii.
Well sure, parts of it do. It's a volcano you know, not all rainforests and beaches and sun-bronzed natives.
As to why they chose specifically Hawaii instead of some other location suitably representative, well, the answer is the rainforests, beaches, and sun-bronzed natives.
Re:air pressure (Score:3, Insightful)
That depends how large of an enclosure you have. They're not trying to give the moon an atmosphere, this is strictly for an indoor moon base.