Oxygen
| Oxygen | |
|---|---|
| O | |
| In situ availability: | abundant |
| Necessity: | critical |
| Atomic number: | 8 |
| Atomic mass: | 15.9994 |
| group: | 16 |
| period: | 2 |
| normal phase: | Gas |
| series: | Non-metals |
| density: | 1.429 g/L |
| melting point: | 54.36K, -218.79°C, -361.82°F |
| boiling point: | 0.20K, -182.95°C, -297.31°F |
| N/A ← N/A → N/A | |
| N ← O → F | |
| P ← S → Cl | |
| Atomic radius (pm): | 60 |
| Bohr radius (pm): | 48 |
| Covalent radius (pm): | 73 |
| Van der Waals radius (pm): | 152 |
| ionic radius (pm): | (-2) 140 |
| 1st ion potential (eV): | 13.62 |
| Electron Configuration | |
| 1s2 2s2 2p4 | |
| Electrons Per Shell | |
| 2, 6 | |
| Electronegativity: | 3.44 |
| Electron Affinity: | 1.46 |
| Oxidation states: | -2 |
| Magnetism: | Paramagnetic |
| Crystal structure: | Cubic |
Oxygen is a Non-metal in group 16.
It has a Cubic crystalline structure.
This element has 3 stable isotopes: 16, 17, and 18.
LUNOX is short for Lunar Oxygen, which is oxygen harvested from resources available on the moon. Oxygen is a major requirement for sustaining any human presence on the lunar surface, useful both for life support and also as a major component of rocket fuel. Lunar Oxygen production is one category of In Situ Resource Utilization, or ISRU.
Methods of LUNOX Production
Most of the methods of lunar oxygen production envision the reduction of lunar regolith or rocks to liberate oxygen, although another possible method of harvesting oxygen is to free small amounts of trapped gas from soil by heating. Reduction methods include:
- Aluminum reduction
- Carbothermal reduction
- Fluorine reaction
- Ilmenite Reduction
- Magma electrolysis
- Methane reduction
- hydrogen reduction of glass
- sulfuric acid dissolution/electrolysis
- ion sputtering.
In lunar oxygen production, it is necessary that the net reactions be limited to the planned raw materials being converted to oxygen and the planned tailings. Catalysts and other reactants must be returned to their initial states as much as is possible.
External Links
- lunar oxygen process sequence discussion from Knudson and Gibson (1989) (note: a good summary of approaches, but somewhat out of date)
- Lunar processing links from David Dietzler
- LLOX automated production summary (1990)
- The Moon: Resources, Future Development, and Colonization by David Schrunk, Burton Sharpe, Bonnie Cooper and Madhu Thangavelu - appendix E covers a wide range of oxygen extraction methods.
References
One reference useful as an overview is The Moon: Resources, Future Development, and Colonization, by David Schrunk, Burton Sharpe, Bonnie Cooper and Madhu Thangavelu.
From review by Arthur Smith on ADB: "In particular Appendix E's coverage of oxygen extraction is extremely thorough, and the authors, while finding it somewhat difficult to directly compare techniques, find 4 of the approaches worthy of considerable further research: hydrogen reduction of glass, magma electrolysis, sulfuric acid dissolution/electrolysis, and ion sputtering."
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