>"Lunar regolith, the thin layer of dusty rock that blankets the Moon, is not so different from the minerals found on Earth. By weight, it contains about 45 per

>"Lunar regolith, the thin layer of dusty rock that blankets the Moon, is not so different from the minerals found on Earth. By weight, it contains about 45 percent oxygen which is bound to metals such as iron and titanium, making it unavailable." >"The electrochemical process takes place in a specially designed chamber - the ones used for research are about the size of a washing machine. Oxygen-containing material is submerged in molten salt, heated to 950 degrees Celsius. A current is then passed through it, which triggers the oxygen to be extracted and migrate across the liquid salt to collect at an electrode, leaving behind a mixture of metal powders." PDS: Some posters have suggested that the electrification of molten salts to extract oxygen was a process known for a long time. Probably true, but this is the first I've heard of it (Disclaimer: I am not a Chemist or Chemical Engineer... in fact, I'm not even a real Scientist! <g>) But, this is interesting! In the case of water, electrolysis yields Oxygen and Hydrogen (is Hydrogen a metal? Some scientists say 'yes -- but only at a very high pressure'). In the case of a metal mixed with Oxygen; an oxide; apparently oxides have to be heated to very high temperatures and mixed with a salt (compare this to H2O being mixed with a salt prior to electrolysis, AFAIK, the salt is just there to make the H2O conductive to a voltage), and then electrolyzed and then you can extract the oxygen. Now, I wonder if the process could be completed without a salt, because well, H2O can be electrolyzed without a salt -- you just get a whole lot less Hydrogen and Oxygen bubbles -- this is because not as much current is going through the water without the salt added. That's because water without additives acts as a resistor. The salt basically makes the solution into less of a resistor, and more of a conductor. But let's say we wanted to accomplish this feat without adding the salt. How might we accomplish this? Well, we could raise the voltage to compensate for the resistance that needs to be overcome. Yes, this would mean lowering the current of the electrodes proportionally. But, maybe we could use a trick, like the way a Xenon flash bulb is lit -- to make this thing happen. Basically, in a Xenon flash bulb, a very quickly occurring high-voltage arc pulse first ionizes the Xenon gas, then a secondary much lower voltage (but much higher current) is continuously passed across the now-conductive ionized path blazed by the initial high voltage pulse. So I wonder if something like that could work to extract oxygen from lunar regolith, without requiring (or requiring as much!) salt... or heck, heat even(!)... perhaps you could do something like get the oxygen out at lower temperatures... It would just be a question of enough voltage to start the circuit -- and subsequently enough current to sustain it... It's also equal-and-oppositely possible that all of the above is a complete and total crackpot theory... ...Take all of the above with the proverbial... "grain of salt"... <g> (Pun intended... <g>)