Is lunar water safe to drink?

NASA’s recent discovery of water on the moon has raised many questions about the moon’s potential as a habitable place. Humans rely on water to survive, so any space worth occupying requires (at a minimum) a viable and sustainable water supply, as well as the ability to provide food.

NASA is already addressing the issue of food supply in space, with the Veggie space garden and other high-tech machines capable of sustainably growing crops within the International Space Station.

Water is the next frontier.

With new research indicating that water molecules are present on the moon even with the presence of sunlight, the hunt for a viable water source on the moon has become much more exciting. Previously, it was believed that water could not survive in sunlit areas, but the recent discovery proved this theory to be wrong. It also raised the possibility that larger bodies of water may exist on the moon, frozen in polar craters. The greater the abundance of water, the more likely the moon is to be hospitable to human life.

Is the moon’s water drinkable?

But the existence of this “lunar water” also raises a very important question: can we actually drink it?

According to UNSW researcher, Dr Ben Montet, we can he actually drink the moon water, but first we will need an excellent filter system. In an email to Gizmodo Australia, he explained the following:

“Water is chemically the same H2O as water on Earth, so if you can isolate it from the rock it is mixed into, you can drink it without problems. However, the passage of isolation is the most complicated one! The density of water in the rock is very low.

In one cubic meter of lunar soil, there is approximately the equivalent of a soda can of mixed water. In other words, the soil in your back garden is about 20% water; your moon garden soil is 0.02% water, a thousand times drier.

Getting that water out of that land will be a challenge, both technologically and financially, but by ignoring these problems, if you have enough cubic meters of lunar soil, you can whip out some aluminum cans of perfectly potable water. “

So that’s it.

While the moon’s water appears to be a new exotic discovery, it still shares the same chemical properties as water found on Earth. With a dedicated filtration or separation system, the lunar soil can be removed from the water for a delicious thirst-quenching sip.

We could all drink moon water for years to come.