Lunar Surface Excavation; Excavated Regolith Transport

NASA anticipates extracting metals and oxygen from Lunar materials. The easiest material to employ initially will be regolith because it is already pulverized into small particles and can be loosely scooped. NASA will initially be constrained as to how much equipment can be boosted to the Moon so one factor will be how to initially reduce the number of types of machines needed for regolith excavation and movement. The second constraint, which is a driver for all terrain shaping activities, is the efficiency of material movement – how much how fast? The third issue will be equipment wear and tear – Lunar regolith is light and relatively easy to scoop, but also due to its particular characteristics is notoriously invasive and potentially destructive of moving parts (bearings, gears, other wear surfaces). Due to vacuum and reduced gravity, the architecture of machines will likely have to be changed (for instance, machines that use counterweight mass will have to change). And finally, minimizing operator personnel (i.e. more mouths to feed and care for on the Moon) and simplifying maintenance will have substantial benefits. This effort will examine already prototyped excavator concepts developed under various NASA internally developed and from University-based completions. But, we will also bring into the analysis the wealth of knowledge in terrestrial Earth movers because each of these architectures was formed from some kind of specific need and a likely also applicable in some modified form on the Lunar terrain.

We will work with the sponsor to develop requirements and a development strategy that meet the needs for Lunar excavation of regolith. This enables us to target the original need early in the development process. The target platform for this technology will support Extended Human Presence Deeper into Space and to the Moon for Sustainable Long-Term Exploration and Utilization. The target Lunar transition program will be identified collaboratively with our NASA sponsor We will bring our technology to the commercial market through partnerships in the material handling equipment business which we already have established for existing company products. Technology developed here directly supports these applications and leverage relationships we have into the industry

This is early/mid-stage (TRL 3) — 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.

None of these are guaranteed paths for this specific project — TechPort itself doesn't have an "apply" button. Reaching out to the contact(s) above with a specific question is usually the fastest way to find out what's actually open.