Oxygen to be extracted from 'moon rock' in Rotherham

View of Earth from the Moon

A Rotherham business has won a contract with the European Space Agency (Esa) to help build a base on the Moon.

Metalysis will extract oxygen and metal powders from moon rock for construction of a launch pad.

The company will perfect its technique using synthetic material replicating the lunar surface, Metalysis said.

The firm, based at the Advanced Manufacturing Park, won the contract as part of Esa's Moon colony ambitions.

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Ian Mellor, CEO of Metalysis, said the long view was to use the Moon's surface resources to create a launch-pad for astronauts heading for Mars.

The company extracts metal powders and oxygen from rock using techniques invented at the University of Cambridge in the late 1990s.

Mr Mellor said with moon rock containing about 50% oxygen and 50% metal, it could be turned into oxygen for breathing and rocket fuel, and metal dust for building materials.

Simulated moon dust (left) becomes metal powder such as titanium and aluminium (right) once the oxygen has been extracted, which can be used for tools and buildings on the Moon

"It costs thousands of US dollars to transport anything from Earth to the Moon," Mr Mellor said.

"Using resources straight from its surface is much more cost-effective."

'Mindful and sustainable'

Mr Mellor said deep drills and heavy machinery would not be needed on the Moon and the company was "very mindful" about its natural resources.

"Astronauts on a space station breathe just under 1kg (2.2lb) of oxygen a day, so the amount of moon rock used compared with the Moon's overall mass is negligible," he said.

"We don't need drills or other machinery to dig deep. Very crudely [speaking], we can just take the topsoil with a spade."

The Open University has said moon dust could be used for fuel, building material and drinking water.