Commercial lunar propellant architecture: A collaborative study of lunar propellant production

Kornuta, David; Abbud-Madrid, Angel; Atkinson, Joseph F.; Barr, Jonathan; Barnhard, Gary P.; Bienhoff, Dallas; Blair, Brad R.; Clark, Vanessa; Cyrus, Justin; DeWitt, Blair; Dreyer, Christopher B.; Finger, Barry W.; Goff, Jonathan; Ho, Koki; Kelsey, Laura; Keravala, Jim; Kutter, Bernard; Metzger, Philip T.; Montgomery, Laura; Morrison, P.; Neal, C. R.; Otto, Erica; Roesler, Gordon; Schier, Jim; Seifert, Brandon; Sowers, George F.; Spudis, P. D.; Sundahl, Mark J.; Zacny, K.; Zhu, Guangdong

doi:10.1016/j.reach.2019.100026

Cited by 88 publications

(57 citation statements)

References 83 publications

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“…Additional extensive experiments and analyses are planned for the Mars 2020 rover, with an experiment called MOXIE that will separate oxygen from Mars' carbon dioxide atmosphere [7]. A concerted effort of many organizations, the commercial lunar propellant architecture, was focused on the efforts to capture lunar polar ice [8]. Using ISRU on outer planet moons was addressed in Refs.…”

Section: In Situ Resource Utilization (Isru)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Solar System Exploration Augmented by In Situ Resource Utilization: System Analyses, Vehicles, and Moon Bases for Saturn Exploration

Palaszewski¹

2020

Planetology - Future Explorations

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Human and robotic missions to Saturn are presented and analyzed with a range of propulsion options. Historical studies of space exploration, planetary spacecraft and astronomy, in situ resource utilization (ISRU), and industrialization all point to the vastness of natural resources in the solar system. Advanced propulsion is benefitted from these resources in many ways. While advanced propulsion systems were proposed in these historical studies, further investigation of nuclear options using high-power nuclear electric and nuclear pulse propulsion as well as advanced chemical propulsion can significantly enhance these scenarios. Updated analyses based on these historical visions are presented. At Saturn, nuclear pulse propulsion with alternate propellant feed systems and Saturn moon exploration with chemical propulsion and nuclear electric propulsion options are discussed. Issues with using in situ resource utilization on Saturn's moons are discussed. At Saturn, the best locations for exploration and the use of the moons as central locations for Saturn moon exploration are assessed. Environmental issues on Titan's surface may present extreme challenges for some ISRU processes. In-space bases for moon-orbiting propellant processing and ground-based processing will be assessed.

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Section: In Situ Resource Utilization (Isru)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Solar System Exploration Augmented by In Situ Resource Utilization: System Analyses, Vehicles, and Moon Bases for Saturn Exploration

Palaszewski¹

2020

Planetology - Future Explorations

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“…Many recent studies of the Moon and the use of its resources have been completed [21][22][23][24][25]. While lunar oxygen has been the focus of many of the study teams, water ice in permanently shadowed regions (PSRs) has been analyzed in great detail [26,27]. Both the oxygen and water ice are critical resources for a more self-sustaining lunar base and a lunar economy.…”

Section: The Moon Isru and Advanced Mission Planningmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A more modest lunar base scenario has been proposed [26,27]. In their studies, a more sustainable lunar base was planned.…”

Section: Spudismentioning

confidence: 99%

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Solar System Exploration Augmented by In Situ Resource Utilization: Lunar Base Issues

Palaszewski¹

2019

Lunar Science

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Creating a presence and an industrial capability on the Moon is essential for the development of humankind. There are many historical study results that have identified and quantified the lunar resources and analyzed the methods of obtaining and employing those resources. The idea of finding, obtaining, and using these materials is called in situ resource utilization (ISRU). The ISRU research and development efforts have led to new ideas in rocket propulsion. Applications in chemical propulsion, nuclear electric propulsion, and many other propulsion systems will be critical in making the initial lunar base and future lunar industries more sustainable and will lead to brilliant futures for humanity.

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“…S the interest grows in large-scale space exploration and space economy development, ISRU system attracts more and more attention for its ability to produce resources, especially propellant, to support space transportation. The technical and economic feasibility of commercial propellant production by ISRU systems has been examined and demonstrated by industry, government, and academic experts [1]. Multiple studies have been done focusing on the chemical processes of ISRU reactor and system productivity.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multi-Fidelity Space Mission Planning and Space Infrastructure Design Framework for Space Resource Logistics

Chen

Jonchay

Hou

et al. 2019

AIAA Propulsion and Energy 2019 Forum

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To build a sustainable and affordable space transportation system for human space exploration, the design and deployment of space infrastructures are critical; one attractive and promising infrastructure system is the in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) system. The design analysis and trade studies for ISRU systems require the consideration of not only the design of the ISRU plant itself but also other infrastructure systems (e.g., storage, power) and various ISRU architecture options (e.g., resource, location, technology). This paper proposes a system-level space infrastructure and its logistics design optimization framework to perform architecture trade studies. A new space infrastructure logistics optimization problem formulation is proposed that considers infrastructure subsystems' internal interactions and their external synergistic effects with space logistics simultaneously. Since the full-size version of this proposed problem formulation can be computationally prohibitive, a new multi-fidelity optimization formulation is developed by varying the granularity of the commodity type definition over the network graph; this multi-fidelity formulation can find an approximation solution to the full-size problem computationally efficiently with little sacrifice in the solution quality. The proposed problem formulation and method are applied to a multi-mission lunar exploration campaign to demonstrate their values.

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Commercial lunar propellant architecture: A collaborative study of lunar propellant production

Abstract: Dr. Spudis earned his master's degree from Brown University and his Ph.D. from Arizona State University in Geology with a focus on the Moon. His career included work at the US Geological Survey,

Cited by 88 publications

References 83 publications

Solar System Exploration Augmented by In Situ Resource Utilization: System Analyses, Vehicles, and Moon Bases for Saturn Exploration

Solar System Exploration Augmented by In Situ Resource Utilization: System Analyses, Vehicles, and Moon Bases for Saturn Exploration

Solar System Exploration Augmented by In Situ Resource Utilization: Lunar Base Issues

Multi-Fidelity Space Mission Planning and Space Infrastructure Design Framework for Space Resource Logistics

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