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Paz, Aaron

Publications and source records attributed to Paz, Aaron.

11 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2017

Proving Water Production Out of Mars Analog Soil

This project addresses the sustainable aspect of NASA's Evolvable Mars Campaign (EMC), specifically using local resources on Mars to become ad logistically independent of Earth as possible. Water is now a confirmed resource on the surface of Mars in various forms, but in order for it to be utilized it will need to extracted from the martian environment and purified. This project addresses Technology Area (TA) TA07, In-Situ Resource Utilization, specifically water extraction from regolith. The goal of this project was to study a method that could be used to separate water from other contaminating volatiles, This resulted in the development of a dedicated test stand and high fidelity Mars regolith simulant.

Analog Soil↗
NASA NTRS2017

Characterization of Volatiles Loss from Soil Samples at Lunar Environments

Resource Prospector Integrated Thermal Vacuum Test Program A series of ground based dirty thermal vacuum tests are being conducted to better understand the subsurface sampling operations for RP Volatiles loss during sampling operations Hardware performance Sample removal and transfer Concept of operationsInstrumentation5 test campaigns over 5 years have been conducted with RP hardware with advancing hardware designs and additional RP subsystems Volatiles sampling 4 years Using flight-forward regolith sampling hardware, empirically determine volatile retention at lunar-relevant conditions Use data to improve theoretical predictions Determine driving variables for retention Bound water loss potential to define measurement uncertainties. The main goal of this talk is to introduce you to our approach to characterizing volatiles loss for RP. Introduce the facility and its capabilities Overview of the RP hardware used in integrated testing (most recent iteration) Summarize the test variables used thus farReview a sample of the results.

In Situ Resource Utilization↗
NASA NTRS2017

An ISRU Propellant Production System to Fully Fuel a Mars Ascent Vehicle

In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) will enable the long term presence of humans beyond low earth orbit. Since 2009, oxygen production from the Mars atmosphere has been baselined as an enabling technology for Mars human exploration by NASA. However, using water from the Martian regolith in addition to the atmospheric CO2 would enable the production of both liquid Methane and liquid Oxygen, thus fully fueling a Mars return vehicle. A case study was performed to show how ISRU can support NASA's Evolvable Mars Campaign (EMC) using methane and oxygen production from Mars resources. A model was built and used to generate mass and power estimates of an end-to-end ISRU system including excavation and extraction water from Mars regolith, processing the Mars atmosphere, and liquefying the propellants. Even using the lowest yield regolith, a full ISRU system would weigh 1.7 mT while eliminating the need to transport 30 mT of ascent propellants from earth.

Mars Surface↗
NASA NTRS2017

An ISRU Propellant Production System to Fully Fuel a Mars Ascent Vehicle

ISRU of Mars resources was base lined in 2009 Design Reference Architecture (DRA) 5.0, but only for Oxygen production using atmospheric CO2The Methane (LCH4) needed for ascent propulsion of the Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV) would need to be brought from Earth. HOWEVER: Extracting water from the Martian Regolith enables the production of both Oxygen and Methane from Mars resources Water resources could also be used for other applications including: Life support, radiation shielding, plant growth, etc. Water extraction was not base lined in DRA5.0 due to perceived difficulties and complexity in processing regolith. The NASA Evolvable Mars Campaign (EMC) requested studies to look at the quantitative benefits and trades of using Mars water ISRU Phase 1: Examined architecture scenarios for regolith water retrieval. Completed October 2015Phase 2: Deep dive of one architecture concept to look at end-to-end system size, mass, power of a LCH4LO2 ISRU production system.Evolvable Mars CampaignPre-deployed Mars ascent vehicle (MAV)4 crew membersPropellants: Oxygen MethaneGenerate a system model to roll up mass power of a full ISRU system and enable parametric trade studies. Leverage models from previous studies and technology development programs Anchor with mass power performance from existing hardware. Whenever possible used reference-able (published) numbers for traceability.Modular approach to allow subsystem trades and parametric studies. Propellant mass needs taken from most recently published MAV study:Polsgrove, T. et al. (2015), AIAA2015-4416MAV engines operate at mixture ratios (oxygen: methane) between 3:1 and 3.5:1, whereas the Sabatier reactor produces at a 4:1 ratio. Therefore:Methane production is the driving requirement-Excess Oxygen will be produced.

Mars surface↗
NASA NTRS2017

Regenerative Gas Dryer for In-Situ Propellant Production

Rocket propellant can be produced anywhere that water is found by splitting it into hydrogen and oxygen, potentially saving several tons of mass per mission and enabling the long term presence of humans in space beyond LEO. When water is split into hydrogen and oxygen, the gaseous products can be very humid (several thousand ppm). Propellant-grade gases need to be extremely dry before being converted into cryogenic liquids (less than 26 ppm water for grade B Oxygen). The primary objective of this project is to design, build and test a regenerative gas drying system that can take humid gas from a water electrolysis system and provide dry gas (less than 26ppm water) to the inlet of a liquefaction system for long durations. State of the art work in this area attempted to use vacuum as a means to regenerate desiccant, but it was observed that water would migrate to the dry zone without a sweep gas present to direct the desorbed vapor. Further work attempted to use CO2 as a sweep gas, but this resulted in a corrosive carbonic acid. In order for in-situ propellant production to work, we need a way to continuously dry humid gas that addresses these issues.

Paz, Aaron↗
NASA NTRS2016

Benefits of Mars ISRU Regolith Water Processing: A Case Study for the NASA Evolvable Mars Campaign

ISRU of Mars resources was baselined in 2009 Design Reference Architecture (DRA) 5.0, but only for Oxygen production using atmospheric CO2. The Methane (LCH4) needed for ascent propulsion of the Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV) would need to be brought from Earth. However: Extracting water from the Martian Regolith enables the production of both Oxygen and Methane from Mars resources: Water resources could also be used for other applications including: Life support, radiation shielding, plant growth, etc. Water extraction was not baselined in DRA5.0 due to perceived difficulties and complexity in processing regolith. The NASA Evolvable Mars Campaign (EMC) requested studies to look at the quantitative benefits and trades of using Mars water ISRUPhase 1: Examined architecture scenarios for regolith water retrieval. Completed October 2015. Phase 2: Deep dive of one architecture concept to look at end-to-end system size, mass, power of a LCH4/LO2 ISRU production system

Mars Exploration↗
NASA NTRS2014

The Oxygen and Volatile Extraction Node (OVEN) Subsystem for Resource Prospector

The OVEN (Oxygen and Volatile Extraction Node) Subsystem is part of the RESOLVE (Regolith and Environment Science & Oxygen and Lunar Volatile Extraction) Payload, whose main objective is to verify the presence of water and other volatiles on the lunar surface. The RESOLVE payload is scheduled to fly to the moon as part of the Resource Prospector (RP) in 2019. The OVEN Subsystem accepts regolith (soil) and evolves the volatiles contained in the sample by heating the segment to a temperature of at least 150oC for volatile analysis and as high as 900oC for hydrogen reduction. In general, a regolith segment is deposited into a crucible; the crucible is heated and evolved gases flow to a gas analyzer.

Paz, Aaron↗
NASA NTRS2013

RESOLVE OVEN Field Demonstration Unit for Lunar Resource Extraction

The Oxygen and Volatile Extraction Node (OVEN) is a subsystem within the Regolith & Environment Science and Oxygen & Lunar Volatile Extraction (RESOLVE) project. The purpose of the OVEN subsystem is to release volatiles from lunar regolith and extract oxygen by means of a hydrogen reduction reaction. The complete process includes receiving, weighing, sealing, heating, and disposing of core sample segments while transferring all gaseous contents to the Lunar Advanced Volatile Analysis (LAVA) subsystem. This document will discuss the design and performance of the OVEN Field Demonstration Unit (FDU), which participated in the 2012 RESOLVE field demonstration.

Paz, Aaron↗
NASA NTRS2012

Experimental Measurements of Heat Transfer through a Lunar Regolith Simulant in a Vibro-Fluidized Reactor Oven

Extraction of mission consumable resources such as water and oxygen from the planetary environment provides valuable reduction in launch-mass and potentially extends the mission duration. Processing of lunar regolith for resource extraction necessarily involves heating and chemical reaction of solid material with processing gases. Vibrofluidization is known to produce effective mixing and control of flow within granular media. In this study we present experimental results for vibrofluidized heat transfer in lunar regolith simulants (JSC-1 and JSC-1A) heated up to 900 C. The results show that the simulant bed height has a significant influence on the vibration induced flow field and heat transfer rates. A taller bed height leads to a two-cell circulation pattern whereas a single-cell circulation was observed for a shorter height. Lessons learned from these test results should provide insight into efficient design of future robotic missions involving In-Situ Resource Utilization.

Nayagam, Vedha↗
NASA NTRS2011

Preparation and Testing of Ice-Enriched Lunar Regolith Simulant for RESOLVE OVEN

The RESOLVE (Regolith and Environment Science and Oxygen and Lunar Volatile Extraction) project seeks to deploy a robotic ISRU lander at the lunar south pole to determine the accessibility of frozen ice and the resource potential at various locations. The OVEN (Oxygen and Volatiles Extraction Node) component will be used to heat samples to 150 C or higher in order to drive off ice and other volatiles, which will then be identified and measured. An ice volatilization system has been developed to specifically collect data on the extraction of water vapor from a sample. Testing of the system was begun in April of this year. This report addresses our current work to test the system in a relevant environment in this case, using simulants with up to 10wt% water ice at 76K, in reduced atmosphere.

Cooper, Bonnie↗