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Completed TRL 4 (started at 4, targeting 6)
Efficient mechanical processing (milling) of lunar regolith for life support, propulsion, construction, 3D printing, and more, is a sustainable key enabler of research, exploration, and eventual permanent presence on the Moon. However, the variable particle size of lunar regolith can limit its applicability in certain domains. The Comminution of Regolith Using Milling for Beneficiation of Lunar Extract (CRUMBLE) experiment proposes a solution by investigating the ball and rock milling of regolith simulants under lunar conditions, offering insights into the effects of gravity, vacuum, and milling media. No prior state-of-the-art exists for lunar environment milling. Adapting milling processes for lunar material and the lunar environment is a large step toward efficient multi-ton lunar industry development. CRUMBLE is directly relevant to current technology shortfalls, including in-situ resource utilization (ISRU), advanced manufacturing, and excavation, construction, and outfitting (ECO).
Problem Statement Milling is a long-established technique for Earth-based material processing and a well-studied phenomenon, but it is not well characterized in a lunar environment. Vacuum and reduced gravity may have complex and non-linear relationships with the performance of the milling process; hence, experimental determination is necessary. CRUMBLE aims to provide experimental data points on milling efficiency in the lunar environment and explore the trade-offs in size, weight, and power associated with use of lunar rocks as milling media.
Technology Maturation CRUMBLE is a flight prototype-scale lunar regolith crusher that can maintain a vacuum and has two chambers for variable testing during a series of lunar gravity parabolas. It will fly on two back-to-back lunar gravity parabolic flights. Post-flight analysis will empirically assess milling performance in lunar conditions, comparing steel balls and lunar analog rocks as media. Specifically, data analysis will include laser diffraction with dynamic image analysis for particle size and shape parameters and scanning electron microscope imaging to elucidate the particle size and shape transformations that occur under each test condition. The flight tests aim to advance CRUMBLE’s technology readiness level (TRL) to TRL 6 by testing a mill in a lunar environment to validate analytical models.
Summary of May 15, 2025 Flight Test
lnterlune's experiment measured the performance over time of three identical mechanical processing devices for crushing/processing raw lunar regolith simulant into feedstock for in-situ resource utilization (ISRU). The testing included multiple chambers with lunar regolith simulant under vacuum, tested in a lunar gravity environment to assess trade-offs in size, weight, and power required for different performance levels. This is a first of a kind experiment, the results of which can be used for many types of ISRU as well as extraction of helium-3 from lunar regolith.
Summary of October 28, 2024 Flight Test
Interlune’s experiment measured the performance of a milling system for crushing/processing raw lunar regolith simulant into feedstock for in-situ resource utilization (ISRU). The testing included multiple chambers with lunar regolith simulant under vacuum, tested in a lunar gravity environment to assess trade-offs in size, weight, and power required for different performance levels. This is a first of a kind experiment, the results of which can be used for many types of ISRU as well as extraction of helium-3 from lunar regolith.
- Increase ISRU potential: Advance milling technology to process raw lunar materials into useful resources
- Advance knowledge: Understand effects of vacuum, gravity, and milling media on efficiency
Future Customers
- Lunar ISRU applications
- Advanced manufacturing capabilities – providing ISRU-derived feedstocks
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