Oxygen Extraction from Minerals

Abstract: Oxygen, whether used as part of rocket bipropellant or for astronaut life support, is a key consumable for space exploration and commercialization. In Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) has been proposed many times as a method for making space exploration more cost effective and sustainable. On planetary and asteroid surfaces the presence of minerals in the regolith that contain oxygen is very common, making them a potential oxygen resource. The majority of research and development for oxygen e…