Planetary Volatiles Extractor (PVEx) for Prospecting and In Situ Resource Utilization

Zacny, K.; Vendiola, V.; Morrision, Phillip; Paz, Aaron

doi:10.1061/9780784483374.066

Cited by 4 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…The authors Zacny et al [77], for instance, proposed and demonstrated an ISRU concept based on soil mining with a deep fluted auger for water extraction. Water is extracted within the flutes and the soil is discarded.…”

Section: Asteroids and Resource Availabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Drilling in icy soil and ice was demonstrated in vacuum chambers by the authors. On a later work, the authors developed the "Sniffer" concept that is being developed to reach TRL 5 via NASA funding [77]. The "Sniffer" implements a heater deep flute with perforated walls for melting and/or sublimating volatiles.…”

Section: Asteroids and Resource Availabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Laser powder bed additive manufacturing (0.74 x 0.63 x 1) m, >100kg, 1kW [63,93] Resource harvesting Metallic resources: Robotic arm inspired on the Osiris-Rex TAGSAM system [33] and/or projectile firing like Hayabusa system [78] Water and volatiles: heater deep flute with perforated walls for melting and/or sublimating volatiles like in the Sniffer system [77].…”

Section: Conceptmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…18U CubeSat, 40kg 200W/hs [77] The implementation of LPB additive manufacturing technologies is feasible, however its weight and complexity (the need for a gas flow-assisted powder deposition, for instance) would render the replication process problematic. In addition, LPB additive manufacturing technologies have a larger energy consumption than the metal clay counterpart.…”

Section: Conceptmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Near-term self-replicating probes - A concept design

Borgue¹,

Hein²

2021

Acta Astronautica

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Section: Asteroids and Resource Availabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Asteroids and Resource Availabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Conceptmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Conceptmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Near-term self-replicating probes - A concept design

Borgue¹,

Hein²

2021

Acta Astronautica

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“…The advantage of this approach is its straightforward heating process, and associated technologies have already achieved high readiness levels. Therefore, for future lunar volatile explorations, such as the Chang'e-7 mini-flying probe platform (Wang et al, 2024), the Planetary Volatiles Extractor lander (Zacny et al, 2021) and Lunar Volatiles Scout-Polar Ice Explorer rover (Gscheidle et al, 2022), the electrical heating remains the primary alternative. Moreover, within the strategic perspective of in-situ resource utilization (ISRU), which is defined as the conversion of local resources at spatial destinations to provide proper infrastructure and commodities (Starr & Muscatello, 2020), we also recommended employing electric heating for extracting volatiles from lunar regolith.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Oven Design for In‐Situ Thermal Extraction of Volatiles From Lunar Regolith

Ruan,

Yang,

Hao

et al. 2024

Earth and Space Science

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Extracting volatiles from lunar regolith for analysis or utilization is one of the most important aspects of future lunar exploration. However, the low thermal conductivity of lunar regolith poses a challenge. Here, we conduct simulations to analyze the heat and mass transfer processes within the sample inside the oven. We identify three main factors affecting oven heat‐up rate: water ice content (WIC) in the regolith, oven diameter, and power supply. Taking these factors into account, we devise an oven design and apply it to three case studies: (a) assessing water ice and isotopic composition in Permanently Shadowed Regions, akin to Chang'e‐7 mini‐fly probe missions; (b) measuring noble gases, as Chang'e‐7 and Luna‐27 landers; and (c) large‐scale in‐situ resources utilization (ISRU). The simulation results indicate that water ice can be extracted using sufficiently high heating power without issues. However, the complete extraction of noble gases is challenging and may require alternative heating methods. For ISRU purposes, large ovens can be subdivided into smaller ones by adding internal structures, for example, honeycomb, to improve the heat‐up rate by at least 1.5 times. Additionally, we find that the oven can serve as a scientific payload for WIC measurement using the heating curve. A flowchart of this new WIC measurement method is provided, offering an alternative method to mass spectrometry or spectroscopy measurements.

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Advances in Extraterrestrial Drilling Technology to Discover the Secrets Hidden Inside Celestial Bodies

Zhang

Wei

et al. 2022

Space Sci Rev

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Planetary Volatiles Extractor (PVEx) for Prospecting and In Situ Resource Utilization

Cited by 4 publications

References 7 publications

Near-term self-replicating probes - A concept design

Near-term self-replicating probes - A concept design

Oven Design for In‐Situ Thermal Extraction of Volatiles From Lunar Regolith

Advances in Extraterrestrial Drilling Technology to Discover the Secrets Hidden Inside Celestial Bodies

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