How will astronauts be able to extract oxygen and building materials directly on the Moon in the future?
@DFKI, Bremen
During the week of 13–17 October 2025, eight international teams competed against one another at the ESA Space Resources Challenge 2025 in the LUNA Hall at the DLR in Cologne. Teams from Poland, Canada, Denmark, the United Kingdom and Germany took part in the competition. We from the DLR Institute of Space Systems in Bremen also took part as Team BREMEN, together with the DFKI. Our Team BREMEN won the competition and secured prize money of 500,000 euros. 🏆
The project is now getting underway! The task: to develop technologies for processing lunar dust – known as regolith. The aim is to use this to extract oxygen and building materials directly on the Moon in the future. The goal is to ensure a sustainable and independent supply for future astronauts. The scenario being tested looks ahead to the 2040s, when humans will be living permanently on the Moon and utilising local resources.
The modular system consists of the ‘Coyote III’ rover and a processing unit that collects and sorts lunar dust (regolith), thereby laying the groundwork for the extraction of oxygen and metals. The rover is mechanically robust, capable of traversing rough terrain and can be expanded using modular components. The ‘Coyote III’ vehicle is able to navigate safely across lunar-like terrain.🌙🚀
The system will be further developed and optimised as part of the project that has now been launched. In early 2027, a further field test is to be carried out in the LUNA Hall – a joint research facility run by DLR and ESA – to prepare for future crewed and robotic lunar missions. To this end, the BREMEN team has set itself the goal of excavating and processing 100 kg of artificial lunar dust in a single day. The aim is to consume as little energy as possible whilst demonstrating the system’s robustness.
@ DFKI, Bremen
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Paul Zabel