The European Space Agency (ESA) has created a prototype oxygen plant to create oxygen from moon dust, according to a post on the agency’s site.

Space exploration is once again front and center on the agendas of governments and corporations alike. The U.S. recently created Space Force as a sixth branch of the military, Amazon established new headquarters for its space-based initiative and a myriad of other companies are working to cash in on the new space age. Unfortunately, long-term colonization still poses a number of significant hurdles, not the least of which is oxygen.

The ESA may be on to a solution, however, at least in the context of a future lunar base. According to their post, “samples returned from the lunar surface confirm that lunar regolith is made up of 40–45% percent oxygen by weight, its single most abundant element. But this oxygen is bound up chemically as oxides in the form of minerals or glass, so is unavailable for immediate use.”

The method used to separate the oxygen out, salt electrolysis, was originally developed for commercial alloy and metal production. As a side benefit, the process of harvesting the oxygen “also converts the regolith into usable metal alloys.”

The potential benefits go far beyond just having a way to produce breathable air, important though that is. The oxygen can also be used to create fuel on a lunar base, while the alloy byproducts may have a use in manufacturing, spacecraft repair and other applications.

The current prototype has been set up in the Netherlands, and the ESA is shooting for the mid-2020s for the first technology demonstration.