US/NASA Advancing Space Resources: Commercially and Internationally
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Engineering topics
Gerald Sanders
Publications and source records attributed to Gerald Sanders.
Lunar In-situ Resource Utilization Concept to Reality
ISRU is a capability involving multiple elements to achieve final products (mobility, product storage and delivery, power, crew and/or robotic maintenance, etc.) ‘ISRU’ does not exist on its own. By definition, it must connect and tie to users/customers of ISRU products and services Living Off the Land: ISRU involves any hardware or operation that harnesses and utilizes ‘in-situ’ (local) resources to create products and services for robotic and human exploration. Resource Examples •Water •Oxygen •Hydrogen •Carbon •Metals •Silicon •Nitrogen •Regolith/Rock •Discarded materials Product Examples •Propellant •Life Support Consumables •Feed stock for •Additive manufacturing •Construction •Agriculture substrate and/or fertilizer
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In Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) Envisioned Future Priorities
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) of the United States of America (US) has initiated the Artemis Moon to Mars program to send astronauts (the first woman and person of color) back to the lunar surface, create a sustainable human lunar exploration program, and lead the first human exploration mission to the Mars surface in the 2030’s. A major objective of this program is to characterize the resources that exist on the Moon and Mars, and learn how to utilize them for sustained and affordable exploration. Commonly known as In Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU), the search for, acquisition, and processing of resources in space has the potential to greatly reduce the dependency on transporting mission consumables and infrastructure from Earth, thereby reducing mission costs, risks, and dependency on Earth. Through the extraction and processing of resources into mission commodities such as rocket propellants, life support consumables, and fuel cell reactants, ISRU enhances and evolves the cis-lunar, lander, and surface transportation systems required for human exploration; expanding and ehancing HOW humans get to, explore, and return from the Moon. Through the extraction and processing of resources into metals, silicon, and other manufacturing and construction feedstock, ISRU enhances and allows for the expansion of critical infrastructure through in situ manufacturing and construction capabilities needed for WHAT humans do on the Moon and in cis-lunar space. Because of this, ISRU supports and enables commercial involvement beyond NASA and governmental agencies by both lowering the cost of sustained transportation to/from/on the Moon as well as supporting the market required for needing these transportation systems. To achieve this vision, NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) ensures the coordinated development of ISRU and other critical space and surface infrastructure elements such as propulsion, power, manufacturing, construction, and robotics through the Strategic Technology Architecture Roundtable (STAR) process. Through STAR, an integrated framework and process has been created allowing for capabilities and technologies to be linked and assessed, gaps to be identified, specifications and metrics to be established, and provide a means to prioritize and implement technology development and missions. For lunar ISRU, three primary areas of development have been initiated, (1) understanding, mapping, extracting, and processing water and other volatiles found in polar permanently shadowed regions (PSRs), (2) methods, technologies to extract oxygen from regolith, and (3) methods, technologies, and use cases for metals, silicon, and other feedstock commodities extracted and produced from lunar resources. This presentation will briefly discuss the STAR process and elaborate on the current status and future plans for ISRU development, demonstration, and architecture implementation of NASA’s Envisioned Future Priorities plan for ISRU.
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NASA Plans for In Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) Development, Demonstration, and Implementation
The United States (US) National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Artemis Moon to Mars program has four major goals: (1) Returning Americans to the Moon: 1st Woman & 1st Person of Color, (2) Learning to live and work on the Moon, (3) Translating lessons learned so that the United States has capabilities and operational experience for a mission to Mars, and (4) Inspires the next generation of explorers, researchers, scientists, and engineers worldwide. Overarching all of this, the NASA Artemis program also continues to follow Space Policy Directive One (SPD-1) which directs the US to lead an innovative and sustainable exploration program with commercial and international partners. A major objective to achieve the Artemis program goals and SPD-1 is to understand and characterize the resources that exist at these destinations, and to learn how to utilize these resources for sustained human exploration and the commercialization of space. This ability, commonly known as In Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU), involves any hardware or operation that harnesses and utilizes local resources to create products and services for robotic and human explo-ration. The NASA ISRU program is focused on the production of mission consumables and com-modities to enable sustained human exploration, such as rocket propellants, life support consuma-bles, fuel cell reactants, feedstock for manufacturing and construction, and nutrients for food and plant growth. In particular, propellants make up a significant fraction of the mass launched from Earth, are critical to mission success, and can reduce the cost for reusable transportation. Important for enabling long term surface stays, greater independence from Earth, and growing lunar infra-structure are the abilities to perform construction and manufacturing from in situ-derived metals and materials to create and expand on the infrastructure and reduce the logistical resupply needed for sustained surface and space operations. To achieve these ISRU capabilities, NASA, in partner-ship with industry, academia, and international partners has initiated a multi-faceted program which involves (i) Determining Customer Needs (Type and Quantity of Commodities), (ii) supporting ground Development of Hardware and Systems until Ready for Lunar Flight, (iii) utilize Commer-cial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) flights to fly resource assessment missions with the Science Mission Directorate (SMD), and public-private partnership (PPP) ISRU demonstrations of critical technologies and processes, and (iv) performing commercial-led end-to-end ‘Pilot’ Plant production of commodities and demonstration of usage at a scale and duration that minimizes or eliminates risk for full implementation of ISRU-derived commodities in mission critical applications. This paper will discuss the technologies, mission studies, and accomplishments achieved to date for the ISRU multi-faceted program, and plans for continued ground development and flight missions to reduce the risk of full ISRU implementation.
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Update On NASA ISRU Plans, Priorities, and Activities
Introduction: In 2022, The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) of the United States of America (US) Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) released the In Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) Envisioned Future Priorities (EFP), along with other discipline EFPs, to the public in April for comment. The ISRU EFP is a ‘strategic’ level document to provide guidance to NASA, industry, academia, and international space agencies on the long-term vision for ISRU, as well as the goals, objectives, state of the art, gaps, and near-term priorities to achieve the vision. Since the release, a significant number of comments have been received through a Request for Information, and interactions at meetings and conferences. Based on comments received, as well as changes to the NASA budget, the release of the NASA Moon to Mars (M2M) Objectives at the International Aeronautical Congress (IAC) in Paris, and evolving plans for the Artemis program, an updated version of the ISRU EFP was created and released in March, 2023.
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Space Mining is Coming: Implications for Space Exploration and Terrestrial Mining
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