Progress Made in Lunar In Situ Resource Utilization under NASA’s Exploration Technology and Development Program

Abstract

Incorporation of In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) and the production of mission critical consumables for 9 propulsion, power, and life support into mission architectures can greatly reduce the mass, cost, and risk of missions 10 leading to a sustainable and affordable approach to human exploration beyond Earth. ISRU and its products can 11 also greatly affect how other exploration systems are developed, including determining which technologies are 12 important or enabling. While the concept of lunar ISRU has existed for over 40 years, the technologies and systems 13 had not progressed much past simple laboratory proof-of-concept tests. With the release of the Vision for Space 14 Exploration in 2004 with the goal of harnessing the Moon"s resources, NASA initiated the ISRU Project in the 15 Exploration Technology Development Program (ETDP) to develop the technologies and systems needed to meet 16 this goal. In the five years of work in the ISRU Project, significant advancements and accomplishments occurred in 17 several important areas of lunar ISRU. Also, two analog field tests held in Hawaii in 2008 and 2010 demonstrated 18 all the steps in ISRU capabilities required along with the integration of ISRU products and hardware with 19 propulsion, power, and cryogenic storage systems. This paper will review the scope of the ISRU Project in the 20 ETDP, ISRU incorporation and development strategies utilized by the ISRU Project, and ISRU development and 21 test accomplishments over the five years of funded project activity.

Mechanical behaviour of additively manufactured lunar regolith simulant components

“…It is assumed that this was a result of the increase in strength of the struts between the pores even though the porosity level itself was not significantly altered between energy density values of 0.68 to 0.82 J/mm 2 . The maximum average compressive strength value measured was 4.2 ± 0.1 MPa and the highest average elastic modulus value was 287.3 ± 6.7 MPa; both were obtained using an energy input value of 0.92 J/mm 2 . The strength value is comparable to that of a common masonry brick and so should be adequate for fabricating structural components or relevant replacement parts on the Moon, especially given the absence of storms, and the low gravity.…”

“…These will be able to sustain long duration exploratory expeditions into deep space and nearby planetary destinations 1 . Although significant time and research have been devoted to this goal, there has been minimal progress in terms of technological advancement, apart from several proof-of-concept demonstrations and feasibility studies in laboratory environments and so the work is still at a relatively low Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 2 .…”

Analysis of Lunar Boulder Tracks: Implications for Trafficability of Pyroclastic Deposits

“…The use of rovers began in 1970 with the Soviet Union's Lunokhod 1 (Carrier et al, 1991;IEEE Spectrum, 2010). This rover was followed by the Modular Equipment Transporter (MET) (1971), the Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV) (1971)(1972), the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic's USSR's Lunokhod 2 rover (1973), and the Chinese Yutu rover (2013( , Carrier et al, 1991National Space Science Data Center, 2016, 2017ESA EO, n.d.-a). On 3 January 2019, the Chinese Chang'e-4 probe delivered a second Yutu rover to the lunar surface that is currently exploring a part of the South Pole-Aitken basin on the farside of the Moon (ESA EO, n.d.-b).…”

Regolith Advanced Surface Systems Operations Robot (RASSOR)

“…In this case the space resource under consideration is extraterrestrial regolith, with emphasis on lunar regolith, since it is well characterized from previous missions such as NASA's Apollo program. The lunar regolith consists of approximately 42% oxygen by mass, [2] which can be extracted using chemical engineering methods and then used in space for rocket engine propellant, life support air, water production and usage as a consumable gas [3]. In addition, there are other volatiles present in the lunar regolith such as water, hydrogen, helium, carbon monoxide and helium 3 which are all potentially valuable in a space resource utilization system [4].…”