Brickbot for Lunar Surface Subscale Technology Demonstration

Project Overview / Rationale The purpose of the Brickbot development is to demonstrate molten tile deposition technology for lunar surface construction of roads, landing pads, and planar surface pavements. End-to-end 3D construction printing from raw lunar regolith is a multi-step process that encompasses regolith collection, regolith beneficiation, heating the pre-sorted regolith material, and, finally, forming and emplacing brick tiles to assemble the final structures. The Brickbotproject will demonstrate in the actual operating environment technical solutions for several steps of the lunar construction process using a single robotic platform for various technology demonstrations: (1) raw regolith excavation and delivery to an intake hopper; (2) regolith filtering and sieving for feedstock beneficiation; (3) regolith melting; and (4) forming of brick tiles and placing joining to form a cohesive sample surface. The objective of the project is to establish feasibility of the key technical approaches and to perform risk reduction for constituent technologies. Shortfalls Addressed: 369 - Excavation of granular (surface) regolith for ISRU commodities production 385 - Regolith and resource delivery system 662 - Robotic regolith manipulation and site preparation 1400 - On surface robotic assembly of horizontal structures 666 - On-surface ISRU-based construction of horizontal structures 1584 - Produce manufacturing and construction feedstock from extracted in-situ resources Project Overview / Rationale The purpose of the “Brickbot” development is to demonstrate molten tile deposition technology for lunar surface construction of roads, landing pads, and planar surface pavements. End-to-end 3D construction printing from raw lunar regolith is a multi-step process that encompasses regolith collection, regolith beneficiation, heating the pre-sorted regolith material, and, finally, forming and emplacing brick tiles to assemble the final structures. The Brickbot project will demonstrate in the actual operating environment technical solutions for several steps of the lunar construction process using a single robotic platform for various technology demonstrations: (1) raw regolith excavation and delivery to an intake hopper; (2) regolith filtering and sieving for feedstock beneficiation; (3) regolith melting; and (4) forming of brick tiles and placing & joining to form a cohesive sample surface. The objective of the project is to establish feasibility of the key technical approaches and to perform risk reduction for constituent technologies. Mobility Platform Common Systems Development Bucket drums optimization and integration with the mobility platform Filtration system fabrication and integration with the mobility platform Electrostatic sieving subsystem integration with Filtration system and payload bay Mobility platform and subsystems command and control software development Brickbot Induction Furnace-Nozzle Fabrication and Integration Integration of Induction Furnace-Nozzle with mobility platform payload bay Cooling and power supply for the Induction Furnace-Nozzle Vacuum Brick Production with Induction Furnace-Nozzle Vacuum brick production Mobility Platform Test Program Brickbot functional demonstration tests Deliverables: Functional demonstration of operator controlled tethered Brickbot producing atmospheric brick

Excavation of granular (surface) regolith for ISRU commodities production Regolith and resource delivery system Robotic regolith manipulation and site preparation On surface robotic assembly of horizontal structures On-surface ISRU-based construction of horizontal structures Produce manufacturing and construction feedstock from extracted in-situ resources Simulation of the lunar electromagnetic environment for future surface and regolith interaction and exploitation Construction, e.g., DOD / FEMA forward deployment in remote / hazardous sites Surface mining Environmental clean-up/remediation Debris removal at nuclear power plants and other hazardous sites Land reclamation Dry bulk loose commodities handling in warehouses, distribution centers, storage (e.g., fertilizer, grain, etc.)

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