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Completed TRL 6 (started at 4, targeting 6)
The RedWater project investigated and developed a concept to extract water from deep ice deposits on Mars. It combined two terrestrial technologies into one: Coiled Tubing (CT) for making a hole and RodWell for melting/pumping water. The objective of the RedWater project was to combine CT and RodWell technologies into a single product that could be used to extract in-situ ice deposits in the near-subsurface of Mars. The contract was broken into two parts: a base period that focused on advancing the technology readiness level (TRL) of critical components (the tube, the injector, and the BHA) to TRL5; and an option period that integrated all of these subsystems together (along with a drum) to be tested to a TRL6 level. The base period of this effort focused on advancing the TRL of critical components (the tube, the injector, and the bottom hole assembly) to TRL 5. Experiments conducted on the prototype developed in the base period of this project yielded 2 liters/minute of water extracted from a borehole. The project integrated all these subsystems (along with a drum) and tested to TRL 6, in relevant environment in a temperature and vacuum controlled chamber. The project also conducted a review of the development and the results achieved in their TRL 6 demonstration on October 13, 2023. The hardware and equipment developed in this project is stored at Honeybee Robotics until it is needed by NASA. Elements of the development have already been infused into other projects developed at Honeybee Robotics for application on lunar missions. |
In the past decade orbital measurements revealed that a third of the Martian surface contains shallow ground ice. SHARAD revealed the presence of debris-covered glaciers as well as buried ice sheets in the Arcadia Planitia (30°N to 45°N) that are up to 170 m thick and nearly pure ice. The limit of the radar used to detect shallow ice deposits is 20 m, and therefore, the top of the ice layer is within ~20 m from the surface. To reach and extract water, a water-production-from-ice system would need to penetrate through at most 20 m of regolith. RedWater is developing technology for in-situ water production from subsurface ice deposits for Mars and potentially on the moon. The deliverable from this effort will be technology demonstrated to TRL 6 (in relevant environment) for production of up to 2 liters/minute of water from ice. The deep subsurface access component of this technology is also applicable for lunar missions.
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