Minimizing volatile sublimation during excavation

Cislune proposes to develop a method for excavating and handling icy regolith on the Moon to minimize the loss of volatiles. The method includes temperature management and prevention of churning the ore, as most volatile loss occurs in a thin skin-depth along the exposed surfaces of the bulk material. The proposed innovation is to create a high fidelity design tool that quantifies the loss of resources during the mining and conveyance processes and appropriate design modifications of bucket drums, cutting surfaces, regolith handling, and regolith conveyance that minimize heat generation and regolith churn. The significance of this innovation is to create efficient and effective hardware that will minimize the loss of volatiles and reduce inefficiencies that reduce the value of space resources. The innovation will lead to the development of top-level designs of mining and handling systems with their concepts of operations that minimize volatile loss, informed by the best available science, without adopting expensive methods to contain the volatiles that may not be necessary. Cislune’s technical objectives in Phase I are to show a proof of concept of lunar ice mining that minimizes volatile loss due to heating or churn during excavation. We will show the kinds of volatile loss to be expected with various mining implements and processes and ways to maximize volatile extraction of not just water ice but H2S, NH3, SO2, C2H4, CO2, CH3OH, CH4, and others. Our modeling in Phase I will be extrapolated to other non-water volatiles, and in Phase II we will test with select volatiles to anchor our modeling and demonstrate in thermal vacuum processes that most efficiently extract volatiles. Proposed Deliverables are reports documenting the design, development, and data from icy regolith excavation testing, software design tools to minimize sublimation, and high-level designs for mining and handling icy regolith that minimizes volatile loss.

Minimizing volatile sublimation during excavation applies to producing propellants and other ISRU derived products like plastics, breathable air, and more. This innovation directly maps to NASA STMD’s Strategic Framework thrusts of Go - Cryogenic Fluid Management, Land - Global access to support human missions, Live - ISRU. This innovation dramatically improves cryogenic propellant production of water and other volatiles that are critical for Moon and Mars exploration and utilization.

ISRU mining, manufacturing, and space tourism all benefit from more efficient production of lunar ISRU sourced propellant, breathable air, plastics, potable water, and more. Volatiles are a critical product of lunar regolith excavation, in addition to metals, ceramics, solar cells, and fibers.

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