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Making oxygen from moondust with ROXY (and improving life on Earth)

Artist’s rendition of Airbus lunar lander with ROXY on board. Credits: Airbus

In a breakthrough experiment last month, a team led by Airbus Defence and Space (Friedrichshafen, Germany) has for the first time produced oxygen and other metals from simulated lunar soil with a proprietary process called Regolith to OXYgen and Metals Conversion, or ROXY. The revolutionary new process could be the core of an ISRU value chain on the moon, providing oxygen for habitats or rocket fuel, with added byproducts of metals and alloys as feedstock for additive manufacturing of building materials. This would significantly reduce the cost of settlements on the Moon as the construction materials could be fabricated in situ, without the need to be brought from Earth. Check out Airbus’ animation of ROXY here.

Airbus thinks that the ROXY reactor could have beneficial environmentally friendly applications on Earth as well:

“On Earth, ROXY opens a new pathway to drastically reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases that result from production of metals.” Since the process is essentially free of emissions “…these environmental impacts could be reduced, providing a significant contribution to the UN sustainability goals – another example of how space technologies can improve life on Earth”

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Engineering analysis of a hybrid lunar inflatable structure

Illustration of a hybrid lunar inflatable structure. Credits: Rohith Dronadula

This month’s issue of Acta Astonautica features a rigorous engineering analysis of a hybrid lunar inflatable structure (HLIS), a habitat design that combines a collapsible rigid framework with an inflatable dome. The concept is based on a masters thesis by Rohith Dronadula under the direction of friend of SSP, Professor Haym Benaroya. Although the article is behind a paywall, SSP got permission to link a pdf of the article.

Dronadula took inspiration for the concept from the functionality of an umbrella. The design is simple in form yet robust in structural integrity. It can be autonomously launched from Earth and deployed through telepresence on the Moon. The structure is not only adaptable to most of the Moon’s habitable areas but also durable enough to withstand the extremes of lunar environments. The author recommends deployment within a lava tube and provides rigorous engineering calculations on the proposed materials and structures leading to a stable design with a safety factor of 6.

When humans go back to the moon in next few decades we will be able to survive and thrive in the harsh lunar environment by living in Dronadula HLISs.

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Eta Space snags $27 million Tipping Point award to study space based cryogenic propellant depot technologies

Artist rendering of LOXSAT 1, a demonstrator satellite for a cryogenic oxygen fluid management system. Credits: Eta Space

A small Florida Space Coast start up founded by NASA employees called Eta Space was just awarded a 2020 NASA Space Technology Mission Directorate “Tipping Point” contract to develop the first low Earth orbit cryogenic propellant depot. Management of cryogenic fuels is a key technology for storing propellent in space, which will be a component of a transportation infrastructure supported by in situ resource utilization such as ice mining on the moon for processing into rocket fuel. A key focus of the work by Eta Space will be standardization of equipment interfaces allowing multiple customers to tap into storage capability on orbit.

Eta Space’s LOXSAT 1 mission concept will test a range of cryogenic fuel management processes in space over 9 months specific to liquid oxygen management. LOX is a common oxidizer used across multiple propellant systems by several launch providers and is the heaviest cryogenic fluid needed by most customers.

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Intuitive Machine’s PRIME-1 ice mining drill to be delivered to the Moon by 2022

Illustration of Intuitive Machines’ Lunar Lander. Credits: Intuitive Machines

As part of the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative, NASA has selected Intuitive Machines to deliver ice harvesting equipment called Polar Resources Ice Mining Experiment (PRIME-1) to the Moon’s south pole. In a press release from yesterday, Intuitive stated that the instrument package includes a drill to excavate ice ladened regolith and a mass spectrometer to characterize the volatiles, the data from which will be used by the VIPER mission to follow shortly thereafter. Knowing how much water is available and how accessible it is will inform subsequent in situ resource utilization efforts needed for sustainable human outposts planned for later this decade.

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An interdisciplinary approach to shaping our space future

Artist’s rendering of settlements on the Moon. Credits: Taylor Herring/Samsung via Futurism.com

A melding of multiple disciplines is required for creating a positive human space future that will enable space settlement. In addition to aerospace engineering, architecture and the traditional physical sciences we associate with space exploration, the fields of sociology, philosophy, art, space law and may others will be needed. A method for integrating these fields and coordinating them across the private sector, universities and government has been developed in The Interplanetary Initiative, a pan-university venture created at Arizona State University. The innovative research model is described in a paper in the September 2020 issue of New Space. The program turns students into team leaders and collaborators, equipping them with the skills and knowledge to solve problems anticipated to be encountered as humans expand out into the solar system.

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Project RegoLight: Solar sintering lunar soil for 3D printed settlements on the Moon

RegoLight mobile printing head as implemented. Credits: RegoLight Consortium / Space Applications Services / International Astronautical Federation

Project RegoLight was an in situ resource utilization program funded by the European Commission to study automation of a process using solar energy to heat lunar soil to form building elements for a lunar settlement. The project ran from 2016 – 2018 and was intended to raise the technology readiness level from 3 to 5. The conclusions of the project were presented at the 69th International Astronautical Congress (IAC) held in Bremen, Germany in October 2018 and summarized in a report available on Academia.edu.

RegoLight had several primary objectives including automation of additive manufacturing of building elements under ambient conditions, fabrication of larger structures with a mobile printing head, demonstration of solar sintering under vacuum conditions, production of building elements using simulated lunar soil, material characterization of the building elements and other related processes in the context of a lunar settlement architecture. These activities would support plans for the Moon Village.

Conceptual view of an operational lunar base. Credits: RegoLight Consortium / LIQUIFER Systems Group / International Astronautical Federation
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AIAA ASCENDxCo-Lab workshop identifies technology gaps for economically viable lunar settlements

Artist’s impression of a lunar settlement. Credit: ESA/Foster + Partners via universetoday.com

The 2020 virtual event sponsored by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics held in August brought together 200 space industry leaders from all over the world to discuss and respond to NASA’s ARTEMIS Plan. The event was summarized in a proceedings report that captured the group’s consensus on the technological and economic conditions needed for a sustained and economically viable lunar settlement. The attendees discussed the role of national space agencies, governments, and industry in addressing those conditions. The report defined a sustained lunar settlement as meeting the test of continuous survival and operation over time, and an economically viable settlement as one for which the long-term cost of maintenance is sustained by private capital.

When polled on the key technologies needed for a long term permanent presence on the Moon, the group identified the gaps in the chart below as those areas needing higher Technology Readiness Levels (TRL) to enable a permanent lunar settlement.

Technology areas needing further development. Credits: Jessica Todd et al.* / AIAA

The authors* then summarized the economic conditions identified at the workshop conducive to sustained lunar settlements, information needed to close the technology gaps and the roles of government space agencies as well as non-aerospace industries (e.g. healthcare, agriculture, food processing, utilities, mining and construction). _________________________________________________________________________________

* Authors of the ASCEND Ensuring Economically Viable Lunar Settlements Proceedings Report 2020 include:

Jessica Todd, Graduate Research Assistant, Aerospace Engineering in Autonomous Systems, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Research Institute
George Lordos, Ph.D. Candidate, Aeronautics and Astronautics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Becca Browder, Graduate Research Assistant, Aeronautics and Astronautics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Benjamin Martell, Graduate Research Assistant, Aeronautics and Astronautics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cormac O’Neill, Graduate Research Assistant, Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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Moonwards: the future is for making

Artist depiction of Moon Town settlement in Lalande crater. Credits: Kim Holder / Moonwards.com

At some point in the future there will be settlements on the Moon. What will daily life be like in them? How will the architecture be designed? What crops and animals will be there? Will it be safe? What will the tech and culture be like?

Now you can virtually experience a realistic and sensible facsimile of such a town at Moonwards. The settlement is envisioned to be a multination facility that is based on sound technical and economic principles. Located in Lalande crater, Moon Town beckons with an immersive experience temping you to be a part of the development of its culture by helping to building the settlement, making your own home and attending events. Everything is set up for you with scientific accuracy: ships, rovers, habitats, machines and more. You can enjoy lunar parks, garden in the farm atriums, drive around and participate in all sorts of lunar life activities. Moonwards’ founder Kim Holder says:

“It’s all open source and you can use it however you like. It’s as open-ended as our future is right now. There are no cliches here, no fantasies. The day is nearly here when real ships will launch to really settle another world. There is a great deal we need to think about before then. Be a part of Moonwards.”

Artist’s depiction of an interior space of Moon Town. Credits: Kim Holder / Moonwards.com

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What will it take to become a spacefaring civilization?

Artist’s concept of an O’Neill space colony. Credit: Rachel Silverman / Blue Origin

J. N. Nielsen has a theory…or four. Picking up where he left off in his previous Bound in the Shallows post on Centauri Dreams about the origins of a spacefaring civilization, Nielsen explores the possibility that the nuclear rocket or fusion power may be the indispensable transformative technology that will enable breakout of a spacefaring future. But even if we develop the capability of nuclear propulsion, it may not be sufficient. We need a “mythology” to enable humanity’s next central project. As Nielson defines it, a mythology “… is a kind of recapitulation in which the contributions of ages past—whether biological, psychological, social, or cultural—are each given their due, and these antecedents serve as a springboard to something authentically novel, something unprecedented that facilitates human beings to transcend their past and to accomplish something unprecedented.”

As happens every time, whenever I dig into Nielson’s rich writings I loose myself in a beautiful philosophical landscape of culture. Give yourself some time to ponder and absorb these insightful hypotheses on what is needed to settle the solar system and beyond…and visit his Grand Strategy: View from Oregon site for more politics, economics, warfare, religion, and philosophy with a focus on civilization which often leads to consideration of the future and space exploration.

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2020 NIAC Symposium showcases cutting edge technology for space development

Illustration of SPEAR (Swarm Probe Enabling ATEG Reactor), an affordable nuclear electric propulsion spacecraft using a custom designed fission reactor. Credits: Troy Howe, Howe Industries LLC

The 2020 NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) Symposium just rapped up it’s virtual event. The NAIC Program supports early studies of visionary concepts in space and aeronautics that develop and assess revolutionary, yet credible, aerospace architecture, mission, and system concepts. These studies showcase ideas that will enable far-term capabilities, and spawn exciting innovations to radically improve aerospace exploration, science, and operations.

There were a wealth of new ideas presented at this year’s meeting with Phase I, II, and III posters and presentations available as PDFs on the NAIC Symposium website. To give you a taste, above is an illustration of Howe Industries’ Phase II concept for a small, affordable nuclear electric propulsion spacecraft using a custom designed fission reactor with advanced thermoelectric generators (ATEGs). The innovative design would allow private entities, universities, or other interested parties to carry out missions across the solar system at relatively low cost.

Another favorite of ours was Trans Astronautica’s Mini Bee asteroid capture concept in which they will deploy, then chase down and “swallow” a test object in LEO as a precursor to an asteroid mining mission.

Illustration of Trans Astronautica Corporation’s Mini Bee spacecraft chasing down and capturing an artificial asteroid in LEO. Credits: Joel Sercel / Trans Astronautica Corporation

Some of these NIAC grants have already been covered by SSP such as Phil Metzger’s Aqua Factorem lunar water harvesting process, Masten’s instant lunar landing pad and Trans Astronautica Corporation’s Lunar Polar Propellant Mining Outpost.

We leave you with JPL’s Enceladus Vent Explorer

Illustration of Enceladus Vent Explorer concept. Credits: Masahiro (Hiro) Ono / Jet Propulsion Laboratory