LUCID: Lunar Clean ISRU Depot

The overarching goal of this project is to enable sustainable human presence and technical operations on the Moon with production of clean, usable lunar oxygen. Specifically, the project aims to advance in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) capabilities by developing and validating a small-scale system capable of purifying raw, mixed gas produced through Molten Regolith Electrolysis (MRE) and similar systems which will require gas purification. The primary objective is to design and test a small-scale cryocooler separation unit—incorporating a heat exchanger and refrigerant loop—based on the method selected by the C3PO trade study. The system must successfully isolate oxygen from the MRE output gas by precisely regulating temperatures, while concurrently filtering out solid impurities such as soot and regolith dust. Furthermore, the project aims to verify that the system can consistently meet strict end-use purity thresholds, specifically targeting breathing-grade oxygen at 99.0% to 99.5% purity (with a maximum of 50 ppm of water) and Grade F oxygen at 99.995% purity for specialized technical work, research, and welding.

This technology will provide a highly robust, dust-resilient (ISRU) system capable of continuously producing propellant-grade and life-support oxygen for lunar and Martian missions by coupling Molten Regolith Electrolysis (MRE) or like system with cryogenic fractional distillation.

This is a mature technology (TRL 7+) — the realistic path in is usually NASA's Technology Transfer Program: licensing an existing NASA patent, or a Space Act Agreement to use NASA facilities/expertise directly. NASA also runs a startup licensing program with no upfront fee for companies formed to commercialize a specific NASA technology.

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.