Carbothermal Reactor Risk Reduction Testing and Analytical Model Development (CR3-SBIR PH3)

The carbothermal processing option is a leading candidate for extraction of oxygen from lunar regolith due to its moderate yield at achievable processing temperatures and ability to extract oxygen from regolith anywhere on the Moon. During the 2000's, Orbital Technologies Corporation (now owned by Sierra Nevada Corporation) received several SBIR awards that resulted in successfull demonstrations of a laboratory reactor that produced oxygen from lunar simulants at an equivalent rate of approximately 1 t of oxygen per year. NASA has a desire to understand the size, mass, and power of a larger reactor subsystem that has been designed to reduce mass and approach a more flight-like design.

The scope of this Phase III SBIR contract is to perform risk reduction testing for the carbothermal process with full-size single melt tests preceding full-size multiple melt tests. In addition, a three-dimensional analytical model for multi-melt operation will be created and validated with test data obtained from the risk reduction testing. New scope was added in September 2020 that funds building a full-scale reactor assembly, including the Regolith Inlet Assembly, Regolith Outlet Assembly, and Rotational Reactor Bed. These components will first be tested individually and then integrated into a complete Carbothermal Reduction Reactor System. The final (Option) Phase on the contract is to assemble the components into an integrated system and test multiple melts at full-scale.

While much attention has been given to the water resources in the permanently shadowed regions near the lunar poles, extraction of oxygen alone from the regolith can still provide a valuable product for life support systems, and also comprises more than 75% of the propellant in an oxygen/hydrogen ascent vehicle. Development of efficient methods to extract the oxygen from the regolith can result in significant reductions in mass required to be launch from Earth for sustained lunar exploration.

This is early/mid-stage (TRL 4) — the most realistic path in is NASA SBIR/STTR, which funds small businesses and research institutions to develop technology aligned with NASA's needs (equity-free, phased funding). Check whether a current SBIR/STTR solicitation topic overlaps with this project's technology area, or contact the project directly (above) to ask.

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