Lunar Outpost Life Support Architecture Study Based on a High-Mobility Exploration Scenario

Abstract

As scenarios for lunar surface exploration and habitation continue to evolve within NASA's Constellation program, so must studies of optimal life support system architectures and technologies. This paper presents results of a life support architecture study based on a 2009 NASA scenario known as Scenario 12. Scenario 12 represents a consolidation of ideas from earlier NASA scenarios and includes an outpost near the Lunar South Pole comprised of three larger fixed surface elements and four attached pressurized rovers. The scenario places a high emphasis on surface mobility, with planning assuming that all four crewmembers spend roughly 50% of the time away from the outpost on 3-14 day excursions in two of the pressurized rovers.Some of the larger elements can also be mobilized for longer duration excursions. This emphasis on mobility poses a significant challenge for a regenerative life support system in teens of costeffective waste collection and resource recovery across multiple elements, including rovers with very constrained infrastructure resources.The current study considers pressurized rovers as part of a distributed outpost life support architecture in both stand-alone and integrated configurations. A range of architectures are examined reflecting different levels of closure and distributed functionality. Different lander propellant scavenging options are also considered involving either initial conversion of residual oxygen and hydrogen propellants to water or initial direct oxygen scavenging. Monte Carlo simulations are used to assess the sensitivity of results to volatile high-impact mission variables, including the quantity of residual lander propellants available for scavenging, the fraction of crew time away from the outpost on excursions, total extravehicular activity hours, and habitat leakage.Architectures are evaluated by estimating surpluses or deficits of water and oxygen per 180-day mission and differences in fixed and 10-year-total equivalent system mass (ESM) relative to a reference case.Results are presented based on current assumptions for Scenario 12 and based on Monte Carlo simulations with assumed probability distributions for the high-impact mission variables. The calculated probability of no water or oxygen resupply from Monte Carlo simulations provides a quantitative measure of system robustness that can be used for cost/benefit analyses to identify leading architecture candidates. Areas of technology improvement that are likely to have a significant impact are also suggested. This paper presents results of a life support architecture study based on a 2009 NASA lunar surface exploration scenario known as Scenario 12. The study focuses on the assemblycomplete outpost configuration and includes pressurized rovers as part of a distributed outpost architecture in both stand-alone and integrated configurations. A range of life support architectures are examined reflecting different levels of closure and distributed functionality. Monte Carlo simulations are used to assess the sensitivity...

Logistics and Life Support Systems Analysis for High-Mobility Exploration on a Lunar Surface

“…Table 1 shows the main specifications of lunar surface systems used in this study. The specifications are defined based on previous work [8][9][10] . Four crewmembers can stay at the outpost, which consists of PCM, PLM and LER, and the two groups of two crewmembers each can explore at the same time with the two-seated LERs.…”

Energy Storage for Lunar Surface Exploration

“…This paper presents the updated results of a recent NASA study funded under the Advanced Exploration Systems (AES) Modular Power Systems (AMPS) project using an analysis method previously developed under the AMPS project [1,7]. Multiple studies have been performed in the past two decades to evaluate and optimize surface power systems for lunar exploration [8][9][10][11][12][13]. This AMPS study evaluates multiple surface locations on the Moon, with the goal of establishing a common approach towards technology development and system design for surface power systems that use RFC energy storage methods.…”