Inductive thermal extraction of water ice from lunar regolith: Modeling and validation

The Chang’E-7 mission aims to land in the permanently shadowed regions of the lunar South Pole to perform in situ extraction and detection of lunar volatiles, thereby verifying the existence and occurrence of water ice in lunar regolith. To meet the demands of in situ resource utilization (ISRU) on the Moon and enhance the extraction efficiency of water from icy regolith, this study investigates an induction heating-based water ice extraction method through both theoretical modeling and experimental validation. A multiphysics coupling model was developed based on heat and mass transfer theory in porous media. An experimental platform simulating the induction heating of lunar regolith was constructed, and extraction tests were conducted under varying water contents and heating powers. The experimental results were then compared with simulation data. The results demonstrate good agreement between the predicted and measured water extraction behavior under different operating conditions. This study provides both theoretical and experimental support for thermal extraction of water from lunar regolith and offers practical guidance for system design and parameter optimization in the Chang’E-7 mission and future deep space resource utilization missions.