Chinese scientists have made a big discovery that could help future astronauts live on the Moon by creating water from lunar soil. Their groundbreaking method was published in a scientific journal and is getting a lot of attention because it might solve one of the biggest challenges of setting up long-term bases on the Moon: the lack of water.

The Moon doesn’t have natural sources of water like Earth does. While some past missions have found ice at the Moon’s poles and in dark craters, most of the Moon's surface is very dry. The amount of water in lunar minerals is shockingly low—so low that it’s almost impossible to extract. But without water, it’s hard to imagine astronauts living and working there for long periods.

That’s where this new method comes in. Chinese researchers, working with soil samples collected by the Chang’e-5 mission, discovered that water can be produced from lunar soil through a unique chemical reaction. Here's how it works: the Moon's soil, also called...