Carbothermal Reduction Demonstration

NASA CaRD is a Game Changing Development project that developed a prototype for extracting oxygen from lunar regolith using concentrated solar energy and a carbothermal reaction. The system integrates a deployable solar concentrator, mirrors, reactor, fluid system, avionics, gas analysis, and software to advance lunar surface oxygen and propellant production from local materials.

Identity

Aliases: CaRDCaRD ProjectCarbothermal Reduction Demonstration Project
Domains: spaceflight
Name: Carbothermal Reduction Demonstration
Status: completed
Types: developmentinfrastructureresearchoperations

Details

Description: NASA CaRD is a Game Changing Development project that developed a prototype for extracting oxygen from lunar regolith using concentrated solar energy and a carbothermal reaction. The system integrates a deployable solar concentrator, mirrors, reactor, fluid system, avionics, gas analysis, and software to advance lunar surface oxygen and propellant production from local materials.
Leads
Parent Program
Participants: -

Assets & Meta

Creation Time: August 14, 2026 at 01:07:58 UTC
Updated Time: August 14, 2026 at 01:07:58 UTC

Other

Official Urls: https://techport.nasa.gov/projects/147004https://www.nasa.gov/lunar-surface-technology/https://www.nasa.gov/centers-and-facilities/johnson/sunlight-extracts-oxygen-using-solar-chemistry/