TL;DR: Carbothermal Reduction is a main entry in the 外星矿物知识引擎 database.
Reduction of metal oxides using carbon (methane) at high temperature to produce metals and CO/CO₂
Organization
NASA JSC, Luna Resources
Target
Lunar regolith (anorthite, ilmenite)
Status
Laboratory demonstrated with simulants
Breakthrough
Demonstrated silicon and iron extraction from anorthite using methane reduction