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Completed TRL 4 (started at 4, targeting 5)
The Honey Bubble Excitation Experiment for Lunar Molten Regolith Analog Demonstration is a simple system designed to test the physics of transporting granular material into bubbles formed within viscous material. The system uses honey as a viscous simulant for molten regolith and compressed gas for evolved oxygen. The system is designed to improve upon current methods to extract oxygen from regolith, an important oxygen source on the Moon. Its aim is to enable researchers to test extraction methods in partial gravity, using a safe, simple, and cost-effective platform. This has the potential to benefit NASA missions and the commercial space industry.
Problem Statement Regolith is an important oxygen source on the moon. An expected best practice for extracting oxygen from lunar soil is molten regolith electrolysis (MRE), which relies on oxygen bubble generation within molten regolith. However, partial gravity experiments haven’t yet been conducted. Because bubble behavior is significantly different in low gravity, development of a continuous MRE process to recover lunar oxygen requires study of viscous bubbling. This system aims to provide a simple, safe, and cost-effective platform for such study.
Technology Maturation A successful flight test is expected to help researchers validate current data models and obtain additional data to inform new, more robust instrument designs needed for deep space exploration missions. The flight tests aim to advance this innovation’s technology readiness level (TRL) to TRL 5.
Summary of Flight Testing
2025-02-04 and 2025-09-18 Honeybee Bubble Excitation Experiment (HBEE) – HBEE will help characterize gas bubble formation and propagation in viscous liquids in lunar gravity. These insights will help better predict how oxygen bubbles will act in regolith /rock that is melted during the in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) process called molten regolith electrolysis (MRE). The data that was collected will be used to inform designs of future ISRU systems.
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