NewHydrogen News Commentary - May 4, 2026

Added: 2026-05-09

[00:00:02][music] You're about to see something almost nobody has ever seen before, and it's central to the future of space exploration and global energy security.

[00:00:14]Hi, I'm Steve Hill, CEO of New Hydrogen, with this week's top hydrogen news.

[00:00:18]First up, researchers at Northwestern University have captured the first highresolution video of water forming at the nano scale. By using a palladium catalyst to combine hydrogen and oxygen, they observe tiny bubbles of water appearing in real time. You're looking at something generations before us have only imagined. Tiny, but mighty, hydrogen is the foundational building block of our energy future.

[00:00:44]Next, NASA and the United States Department of Energy have formally announced plans to develop a nuclear reactor for the moon by 2030 alongside nuclear electric propulsion for future Mars missions. Nuclear power is essential in space because it provides reliable energy where solar is limited.

[00:01:03]It's deemed essential for surviving the 14-day lunar night and for operating in permanently shadowed regions where sunlight never reaches, precisely where the moon's water is located. NASA plans to use electricity from these reactors for electrolysis to split lunar ice into hydrogen and oxygen. But there's a potentially more effective alternative.

[00:01:24]If a small reactor is placed near these lunar ice deposits, you have the two exact inputs needed for thermmochemical hydrogen production, heat and water.

[00:01:33]This creates the perfect environment for water splitting without electricity.

[00:01:38]It's the same logic behind our thermal loop technology. Why use expensive electricity to crack water when these reactors already produce significant heat? Producing clean hydrogen directly on the moon could dramatically reduce costs by eliminating the need to launch thousands of gallons of propellant from Earth for every mission. So, how does hydrogen relate to global energy security? At the time of this report, the straight of Hormuz is effectively closed to international commercial shipping. This narrow corridor typically handles roughly 20% of the world's oil supply. With that flow disrupted, global energy markets are already reacting as prices shift and supply chains tighten.

[00:02:18]When a single choke point can impact the global economy this quickly, it proves that diversified local energy sources are a national security requirement.

[00:02:28]From the microscopic reactions in a lab to the vast logistics of a lunar base or a global shipping lane, there is a single invisible constraint holding these innovations back. It isn't the engineering or the vision. It's the math of production. Currently, clean hydrogen is tethered to the high cost of the power grid. As long as we rely on expensive intermittent electricity to crack water, these breakthrough applications remain economically stranded. That's why our mission at New Hydrogen is so important. Our patent pending thermal loop technology is being developed to use inexpensive heat and water instead of high-priced electricity to produce the world's cheapest clean hydrogen. By lowering production costs, we believe hydrogen can move beyond specialized applications and become the foundational backbone of global energy security and the new space economy. To learn more, visit newhydrogen.com and watch our short explainer video. New hydrogen trades under the symbol new H.

[00:03:25]Thanks for your support and we'll see you again next week.

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