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 (from CO₂ or methane) at high temperature to produce metals and CO/CO₂ gas
Method Type
Chemical Reduction
Input Material
Metal oxide ores (ilmenite, regolith)
Efficiency
Moderate; requires carbon source and high temperature
Space Viability
Good - carbon can be sourced from CO₂ (Mars) or imported; demonstrated with lunar simulant