As humanity returns to the moon in the next few years, they're going to need water to survive. While resupplies from Earth would work for a time, eventually the lunar base would have to become self-sustaining? So, how much water would be required to make this happen?

This is what a study recently posted to the arXiv preprint server hopes to address as a team of researchers from Baylor University explored water management scenarios for a self-sustaining moonbase, including the appropriate location of the base and how the water would be extracted and treated for safe consumption using appropriate personnel.

Here, Universe Today discusses this research with Dr. Jeffrey Lee, who is an assistant adjunct professor in the Center for Astrophysics, Space Physics & Engineering Research at Baylor University, and lead author of the study, regarding the motivation behind the study, significant results, the importance of having a self-sustaining moonbase, and what implications this study could have for the upcoming Artemis missions.