To make possible a long-term human presence on the Moon, the Italian Space Agency (Asi) and the Milan Polytechnic University have signed an agreement on an ambitious project to be developed and validated: it is Oracle, (Oxygen Retrieval Asset by Carbothermal-reduction in Lunar Environment), a plant that allows the extraction of oxygen from lunar regolith, relying on a process already studied and, in part, verified in the laboratory by the Astra group of the Milan university.

Regolite is the set of fragmented rocks that cover the Moon's surface. Now, under the guidance of Asi, it is intended to implement by the end of this decade a validation in the target operational environment, that is, on the Moon's surface.

"In Situ Resources Utilization, i.e., the extraction and exploitation of resources in situ, is a key capability for sustainable exploration such as the one we are planning for the Moon," explains Raffaele Mugnuolo head of the Italian Space Agency's exploration, orbiting and surface infrastructure and scientific satellites unit. "In this sense, we count on the Oracle project to prove of global interest in a future perspective and to allow Italy, among the first in the world, to hold a strategic technology. In this new season of return to the Moon, our country is preparing itself in the best possible way to be present, and Oracle will give us the opportunity to consolidate the leading role in wide-ranging programs such as Artemis."

"The Oracle project represents a virtuous path of research and technological development that demonstrates how innovation can be realized through synergistic actions of complementary realities such as the University, the Italian Space Agency and, in the future, the national industrial sector," says Michele Lavagna, scientific head of the project for the Politecnico di Milano. "Oracle is a further confirmation of the opportunities that the collaboration between the two entities offers in the Aerospace field to put the technical skills and research of the Politecnico di Milano at the service of the consolidation of Italy's role in such a strategic sector worldwide. The challenge is considerable, but equally intense are the motivation and enthusiasm of the group that will actively contribute to a unique historical moment in the space exploration scenario as the return to the Moon, following up on the results obtained in the laboratory to produce 'in situ' the first lunar water droplet."