Abstract:
With the continuous advancement of deep space exploration, lunar exploration will be the first step for mankind to carry out interplanetary exploration and expand living territory. The lunar in-situ resource utilization will be a key technical approach to support manned exploration and long-term survival on the moon surface. Almost all space powers are carrying out continuous research on lunar in-situ water production technology, and China has also listed lunar surface in-situ water production as one of the key technologies for lunar exploration missions. Lunar in-situ water production can be mainly divided into two methods: polar water ice exploration/extraction and hydrogen reduction of lunar regolith. The water ice resources that had been detected are mainly located in the lunar polar region, with uneven distribution and great difficulty in extraction. Many different types of polar water ice exploration and extraction schemes have been put forward, but the actual effect needs to be verified by the lunar in-situ test. Hydrogen reduction of lunar regolith can used for in-situ water production, and its working conditions are not limited by the region, and its application scope is wide. However, there are some remaining technical limitations such as extreme reaction condition requirements and high energy consumption, which implies urgent demand to make breakthroughs in energy conservation and effective ingredient enrichment.