Image: The Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission captures the icy landscape of Terra Nova Bay in East Antarctica.
If humans are ever going to live and work in space, it is paramount that we can meet our basic needs far from home. This includes food and water, but the most vital element is a steady supply of clean air to breathe. This is especially important for long-duration missions to the Moon, Mars, and other deep space destinations. For any astronauts or inhabitants this far from Earth, opportunities for resupply missions are few and far between. To this end, NASA and other space agencies are looking to In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) as the solution.
