Extracting Water From the Moon With Basic Home Appliances

universetoday by Nancy Atkinson on October 6, 2008

• In their Marshall lab, the scientists used a microwave oven, a vacuum, water and a simulant to regolith to verify their findings.
• Other uses of microwaves would be to “melt” the lunar surface. The process would help create dust-free landing and launch sites as well as smoother floors for structures and roads for traveling without kicking up dust.
• “Since we’re planning to go to the moon and Mars, the idea is to save weight (on the flight) and to extract the materials the astronauts would need – oxygen and water,” said Kaukler. “There have been studies that showed (getting the water) to be economically viable,” he said. “It could be the first commercial venture.”

Comment:

Obama didn't seem to appreciate the value of going back to the Moon.  It was to learn how to do in-situ resourcing.  This is a way to reduce the amount of mass that needs to be lifted off the surface of the Earth.  Getting that mass off the Earth is very expensive, so getting resources locally from the Moon and from Mars would help out a lot.