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NASA NTRS2018

Ionic Liquid Facilitated Recovery of Metals and Oxygen from Regolith

Regolith, being largely composed of metal oxides, has the potential to be an excellent in situ source of metals, such as iron, nickel and aluminum, as well as oxygen. There is, however, no current technology that is suited for the in space separation of metal oxides into their constituent elements. Terrestrial methods require large volumes/masses of hazardous reagents. Alternative methods, such as molten oxide electrolysis, have been investigated, but these processes generally require high temperatures to operate. Such a requirement imposes significant material compatibility restraints, necessitates high energy inputs, and may pose a threat to the health and safety of the crew. This paper discusses a novel process that uses ionic liquids (ILs) to recover high purity metals and oxygen from regolith and meteorite materials. ILs are organic salts that are molten at or near room temperature, and can have a number of attractive properties including wide liquidus ranges and high thermal and electrochemical stability. The structure of an IL can be readily modified to tune these properties, allowing the synthesis of task specific ILs. Together, these attributes give ILs great utility in a number of space related areas, such environmental control and life support, in space repair and manufacture, and in situ resource utilization.

Karr, Laurel J.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

NASA’S Current Efforts and Applications of NDE to Improve Space Flight Safety

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) continues to push the boundary of manned flight. Current mission profiles include flights to the moon and mars. Many of these missions require advance manufacturing and planned off planet resource utilization. As NASA continues to develop highly advance materials and manufacturing techniques to meet these mission profiles, inspection of these increasingly complex parts has had to evolve as well. Additive manufacturing is coming to the forefront as a primary manufacturing technique but offers unique challenges when inspection and certification are required. NASA has been working diligently to be a leader in developing and utilizing inspection techniques capable of inspecting these highly advanced parts. Additionally additive manufacturing techniques can also be used to build parts in space and provides a vehicle for in-situ resource utilization for off world missions. As NASA and its commercial crew partners move forward inspection techniques will need to continue to advance to ensure safe manned space flight. In this talk NASA will highlight many of the advanced nondestructive evaluation efforts going on across the agency. As well as highlights for points of infusion for helping NASA meet it’s future missions.

NDE↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

NASA's Office Safety Mission Assurance Efforts to Improve Non-destructive Evaluation Methods for Additive Manufacturing and In-Space Inspection

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) continues to push the boundary of manned flight. Current mission profiles include flights to the Moon and Mars. Many of these missions require advance manufacturing and planned off planet resource utilization. As NASA continues to develop highly advance materials and manufacturing techniques to meet these mission profiles, inspection of these increasingly complex parts has had to evolve as well. Additive manufacturing is coming to the forefront as a primary manufacturing technique but offers unique challenges when inspection and certification are required. NASA has been working diligently to be a leader in developing and utilizing inspection techniques capable of inspecting these highly advanced parts. Additionally additive manufacturing techniques can also be used to build parts in space and provides a vehicle for in-situ resource utilization for off world missions. As NASA and its commercial crew partners move forward, inspection techniques will need to continue to advance to ensure safe manned space flight. In this talk NASA will highlight many of the advanced nondestructive evaluation efforts going on across the agency, as well as providing highlights for points of infusion for helping NASA meet its future mission goals.

NDE↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Developments of Bosch Process Architectures for ISRU Terrestrial Applications

To effectively realize NASA’s goals of a sustainable presence on the Moon and be-yond, In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) must be leveraged. To reduce launch mass for space missions, commodities such as oxygen and carbon can be produced in-situ. Oxygen can be used for life support and as a propellant, and carbon can be used for battery production, filtration, additive manufacturing, and steel casting. Carbon is a required reactant in the carbothermal reduction process, a leading candidate for oxygen production on the lunar surface. To pro-duce these consumables, the Carbon Utilization Technology for Lunar and Atmospheric Systems (CUTLAS) project is developing architectures that leverage the Bosch process. The Bosch process re-acts CO 2 and H 2 to produce carbon powder and water, which can then be electrolyzed, leaving O 2 and recycled H 2 . This process is also applicable to carbon dioxide emissions on Earth.

Carbon capture↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Mass Spectrometer Observing Lunar Operations (MSoLo)

Introduction: In 2019, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announced that it would seek to have humans return to the moon by 2024 in the hopes of establishing a more sustainable lunar presence by 2028. This goal comes with many challenges, one of upmost importance will be to utilize resources that can be found on the moon. Water, which has been identified in the lunar Polar Regions, will be a key resource for in-situ resource utilization (ISRU), as it is capable of being processed for vehicular fuel, as well as life support systems materials such as oxygen. Upcoming Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) missions will be critical for these resource assessments. Methods: A modified commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) mass spectrometer developed at Kennedy Space Center known as MSolo, consisting of a quadrupole mass filter and space rated electronics undergoes testing and modifications in order to study operational parameters to unconventional approaches needed in flight situations. In general, MSolo operates in the 0-100 m/z range with the ability to detect with a faraday cup (FC) or an electron multiplier (EM) for enhanced detection. A crossbeam (XB) ionization source is used. Preliminary Data: Prior to construction, little information was available on how the MSolo system would perform at lunar like environments, factors such as temperatures (possible fluctuations from 70 to -45 °C), vibrations from launch and their side effects, the general ability to operate while the entire system (hardware and electronic components) were in a vacuum environment, were factors that while know to flight instruments, were something new to a modified COTS system. As components start to warm up, temperature becomes a key factor (ie. heat can no longer escape the electronics as no atmosphere is present), therefore it becomes crucial to find new ways to maintain stable signals and keep the instrument tuned. Calibration itself becomes an important parameter that needs to be performed while maintaining all flight like characteristics. Even the structure itself of MSolo’s sensor needed to be changed to survive the verification parameters needed to be approved for flight. Most important, all the modifications made to the COTS system have to keep the instrument working at the same specifications of the standard commercial systems. Novel Aspect: Results gathered provide key parameters that will assist to the unconventional mass spectrometry approaches of the upcoming CLPS missions to which MSolo has been selected to.

MSolo↗
NASA NTRS2013

PowderSim: Lagrangian Discrete and Mesh-Free Continuum Simulation Code for Cohesive Soils

PowderSim is a calculation tool that combines a discrete-element method (DEM) module, including calibrated interparticle-interaction relationships, with a mesh-free, continuum, SPH (smoothed-particle hydrodynamics) based module that utilizes enhanced, calibrated, constitutive models capable of mimicking both large deformations and the flow behavior of regolith simulants and lunar regolith under conditions anticipated during in situ resource utilization (ISRU) operations. The major innovation introduced in PowderSim is to use a mesh-free method (SPH-based) with a calibrated and slightly modified critical-state soil mechanics constitutive model to extend the ability of the simulation tool to also address full-scale engineering systems in the continuum sense. The PowderSim software maintains the ability to address particle-scale problems, like size segregation, in selected regions with a traditional DEM module, which has improved contact physics and electrostatic interaction models.

Johnson, Scott↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

NASA’s Developments in Cryogenic Fluid Management Technology

NASA has been pursuing the development and demonstration of enabling and enhancing technologies for Cryogenic Fluid Management (CFM) in collaboration with the US industry. NASA’s vision for current and future space exploration requires high-performance chemical and nuclear propulsion solutions that utilize cryogens. The Agency will use cryogenic fluids for Earth-to-orbit transportation, human missions to the Moon and Mars, planetary exploration, and in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) production. All these architectures will require state-of-the-art long-duration storage on the surface and in-space transfer for refueling. This paper focuses on key CFM technology developments completed or ongoing by the Cryogenic Fluid Management Portfolio Office within NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate. The CFM Portfolio Office, partnered with US aerospace industry, has invested in CFM technology ground and flight demonstrations, focused on maturing CFM hardware and operations for Artemis and Moon to Mars activities. These demonstrations additionally provide NASA with data to inform numerical modeling activities for verification and validation of design tools and approaches for future missions. This paper includes discussion on remaining high-priority open CFM technology gaps for Mar-forward architectures and initiatives for closure.

Cryogenic Fluid Management↗
NASA NTRS2001

Smarter Software For Enhanced Vehicle Health Monitoring and Inter-Planetary Exploration

The existing philosophy for space mission control was born in the early days of the space program when technology did not exist to put significant control responsibility onboard the spacecraft. NASA relied on a team of ground control experts to troubleshoot systems when problems occurred. As computing capability improved, more responsibility was handed over to the systems software. However, there is still a large contingent of both launch and flight controllers supporting each mission. New technology can update this philosophy to increase mission assurance and reduce the cost of inter-planetary exploration. The advent of model-based diagnosis and intelligent planning software enables spacecraft to handle most routine problems automatically and allocate resources in a flexible way to realize mission objectives. The manifests for recent missions include multiple subsystems and complex experiments. Spacecraft must operate at longer distances from earth where communications delays make earthbound command and control impractical. NASA's Ames Research Center (ARC) has demonstrated the utility of onboard diagnosis and planning with the Remote Agent experiment in 1999. KSC has pioneered model-based diagnosis and demonstrated its utility for ground support operations. KSC and ARC are cooperating in research to improve the state of the art of this technology. This paper highlights model-based reasoning applications for Moon and Mars missions including in-situ resource utilization and enhanced vehicle health monitoring.

Larson, William E.↗
NASA NTRS2015

“PowerCell”: The Interface Between Mars Resources and Human Exploration

The barriers to forming human settlements on Mars are high but surmountable within our lifetime. While the Apollo astronauts carried their life support with them, our success in exploring and forming settlements on Mars depends on our ability to use local Martian resources to generate the materials and conditions humans need to survive, so-called in situ resource utilization (ISRU). On Earth, biology provides us with food, shelter, oxygen, and other materials. Off-planet, synthetic biology will enable numerous parallel productions: optimized food production, water treatment, air treatment, environmental monitoring, regolith biomining, waste management, cell based biomaterial production, biocementation, and in situ synthesis based on received DNA sequences. How will the organisms responsible for these synthetic production systems obtain organic carbon and fixed nitrogen in the hostile Martian environment? We envision a synthetic-biology enabled Martian colony and introduce here the critical intermediate component a biological power source needed to transform the in situ resources found on Mars into biological feedstocks to enable growth of production organisms. Here, we present our first PowerCell, a photosynthetic and nitrogen-fixing filamentous cyanobacterium engineered to provide a carbon-rich fuel source for a biological life support system on Mars. We provide a vision of how the PowerCell system will operate in a Martian colony based on ground experiments and preparations for testing in space as a NASA secondary payload aboard the upcoming DLR Eu:CROPIS satellite mission experiments.

Rothschild, Lynn J.↗
NASA NTRS2003

Mars Mission Optimization Based on Collocation of Resources

This paper presents a powerful approach for analyzing Martian data and for optimizing mission site selection based on resource collocation. This approach is implemented in a program called PROMT (Planetary Resource Optimization and Mapping Tool), which provides a wide range of analysis and display functions that can be applied to raw data or imagery. Thresholds, contours, custom algorithms, and graphical editing are some of the various methods that can be used to process data. Output maps can be created to identify surface regions on Mars that meet any specific criteria. The use of this tool for analyzing data, generating maps, and collocating features is demonstrated using data from the Mars Global Surveyor and the Odyssey spacecraft. The overall mission design objective is to maximize a combination of scientific return and self-sufficiency based on utilization of local materials. Landing site optimization involves maximizing accessibility to collocated science and resource features within a given mission radius. Mission types are categorized according to duration, energy resources, and in-situ resource utilization. Optimization results are shown for a number of mission scenarios.

G E Chamitoff↗
NASA NTRS2012

Performance Evaluation of Staged Bosch Process for CO2 Reduction to Produce Life Support Consumables

Utilizing carbon dioxide to produce water and hence oxygen is critical for sustained manned missions in space, and to support both NASA's cabin Atmosphere Revitalization System (ARS) and In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) concepts. For long term missions beyond low Earth orbit, where resupply is significantly more difficult and costly, open loop ARS, like Sabatier, consume inputs such as hydrogen. The Bosch process, on the other hand, has the potential to achieve complete loop closure and is hence a preferred choice. However, current single stage Bosch reactor designs suffer from a large recycle penalty due to slow reaction rates and the inherent limitation in approaching thermodynamic equilibrium. Developmental efforts are seeking to improve upon the efficiency (hence reducing the recycle penalty) of current single stage Bosch reactors which employ traditional steel wool catalysts. Precision Combustion, Inc. (PCI), with support from NASA, has investigated the potential for utilizing catalysts supported over short-contact time Microlith substrates for the Bosch reaction to achieve faster reaction rates, higher conversions, and a reduced recycle flows. Proof-of-concept testing was accomplished for a staged Bosch process by splitting the chemistry in two separate reactors, first being the reverse water-gas-shift (RWGS) and the second being the carbon formation reactor (CFR) via hydrogenation and/or Boudouard. This paper presents the results from this feasibility study at various operating conditions. Additionally, results from two 70 hour durability tests for the RWGS reactor are discussed.

Vilekar, Saurabh A.↗
NASA NTRS2011

Compact and Lightweight Sabatier Reactor for Carbon Dioxide Reduction

The utilization of CO2 to produce life support consumables, such as O2 and H2O, via the Sabatier reaction is an important aspect of NASA s cabin Atmosphere Revitalization System and In-Situ Resource Utilization architectures for both low-earth orbit and long-term manned space missions. In the current International Space Station (ISS) and other low orbit missions, metabolically-generated CO2 is removed from the cabin air and vented into space, resulting in a net loss of O2. This requires a continuous resupply of O2 via water electrolysis, and thus highlights the need for large water storage capacity. For long-duration space missions, the amount of life support consumables is limited and resupply options are practically nonexistent, thus atmosphere resource management and recycle becomes crucial to significantly reduce necessary O2 and H2O storage. Additionally, the potential use of the Martian CO2-rich atmosphere and Lunar regolith to generate life support consumables and propellant fuels is of interest to NASA. Precision Combustion, Inc. (PCI) has developed a compact, lightweight Microlith(Registered TradeMark)-based Sabatier (CO2 methanation) reactor which demonstrates the capability of achieving high CO2 conversion and near 100% CH4 selectivity at space velocities of 30,000-60,000 hr-1. The combination of the Microlith(Registered TradeMark) substrates and durable, novel catalyst coating permitted efficient Sabatier reactor operation that favors high reactant conversion, high selectivity, and long-term durability. This paper presents the reactor development and performance results at various operating conditions. Additionally, results from 100-hr durability tests and mechanical vibration tests are discussed.

Junaedi, Christian↗
NASA NTRS2008

Solar Concentrator Demonstrator for Lunar Regolith Processing

NASA at the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) is building a portable inflatable solar concentrator ground demonstrator for use in testing in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) lunar regolith processing methods. Of primary interest is the production of oxygen as a propellant oxidizer and for life support. There are various processes being proposed for the in-situ reduction of the lunar regolith, the leading processes are hydrogen reduction, carbothermal reduction and vapor phase pyrolysis. The concentrator system being built at MSFC could support demonstrations of all of these processes. The system consists of a light inflatable concentrator that will capture sunlight and focus it onto a receiver inside a vacuum chamber. Inflatable concentrators are good for space based applications due to their low weight and dense packaging at launch. The hexapod design allows the spot size to be increased to reduce the power density if needed for the process being demonstrated. In addition to the hardware development, a comprehensive simulation model is being developed and will be verified and validated using the system hardware. The model will allow for the evaluation of different lunar locations and operational scenarios for the lunar regolith processing with a high confidence in the predicted results.

Fikes, John C.↗
NASA NTRS2014

CO2 Reduction Assembly Prototype Using Microlith-Based Sabatier Reactor for Ground Demonstration

The utilization of CO2 to produce life support consumables, such as O2 and H2O, via the Sabatier reaction is an important aspect of NASA's cabin Atmosphere Revitalization System (ARS) and In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) architectures for both low-earth orbit and long-term manned space missions. Carbon dioxide can be reacted with H2, obtained from the electrolysis of water, via Sabatier reaction to produce methane and H2O. Methane can be stored and utilized as propellant while H2O can be either stored or electrolyzed to produce oxygen and regain the hydrogen atoms. Depending on the application, O2 can be used to replenish the atmosphere in human-crewed missions or as an oxidant for robotic and return missions. Precision Combustion, Inc. (PCI), with support from NASA, has previously developed an efficient and compact Sabatier reactor based on its Microlith® catalytic technology and demonstrated the capability to achieve high CO2 conversion and CH4 selectivity (i.e., ≥90% of the thermodynamic equilibrium values) at high space velocities and low operating temperatures. This was made possible through the use of high-heat-transfer and high-surface-area Microlith catalytic substrates. Using this Sabatier reactor, PCI designed, developed, and demonstrated a stand-alone CO2 Reduction Assembly (CRA) test system for ground demonstration and performance validation. The Sabatier reactor was integrated with the necessary balance-of-plant components and controls system, allowing an automated, single "push-button" start-up and shutdown. Additionally, the versatility of the test system prototype was demonstrated by operating it under H2-rich (H2/CO2 of >4), stoichiometric (ratio of 4), and CO2-rich conditions (ratio of <4) without affecting its performance and meeting the equilibrium-predicted water recovery rates. In this paper, the development of the CRA test system for ground demonstration will be discussed. Additionally, the performance results from testing the system at various operating conditions and the results from durability testing will be presented.

Junaedi, Christian↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Experimental Results of a Rapidly Cycled Temperature Swing Adsorption Pump in a Terrestrial Environment

To improve the increasing CO 2 levels on Earth, technology for carbon capture and utilization must be efficient and cost effective. One major contributor of atmospheric CO 2 is post-combustion flue gas, which can contain up to 20% CO 2 . Scrubbing this CO 2 could reduce the environmental impact of this common industrial process. In off-Earth environments, capturing and utilizing CO 2 from space resources is useful for crewed spaceflight life support. Specifically, the Bosch process, which produces water and carbon powder by reacting CO 2 and hydrogen, is a possible in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) architecture for the Moon and Mars. The Rapid Cycle Temperature Swing Adsorption (RC-TSA) pump is an innovative technology designed to capture CO 2 efficiently. The RC-TSA leverages a stacked plate geometry to cycle multiple zeolite-coated beds. The thin layers allow for rapid heat transfer of the zeolite coating, which improves performance over previously tested pump designs. The design is favorable for scalability and manufacturability, which are forward work. Initial testing of the sorption pump using a simulated flue gas environment shows favorable breakthrough capacities and reduced cycle times. Results show promise for on- and off-Earth applications, such as a Martian surface and crewed spaceflight environments.

adsorption pump↗
NASA NTRS1992

Return to the Moon: Lunar robotic science missions

There are two important aspects of the Moon and its materials which must be addressed in preparation for a manned return to the Moon and establishment of a lunar base. These involve its geologic science and resource utilization. Knowledge of the Moon forms the basis for interpretations of the planetary science of the terrestrial planets and their satellites; and there are numerous exciting explorations into the geologic science of the Moon to be conducted using orbiter and lander missions. In addition, the rocks and minerals and soils of the Moon will be the basic raw materials for a lunar outpost; and the In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) of lunar materials must be considered in detail before any manned return to the Moon. Both of these fields -- planetary science and resource assessment -- will necessitate the collection of considerable amounts of new data, only obtainable from lunar-orbit remote sensing and robotic landers. For over fifteen years, there have been a considerable number of workshops, meetings, etc. with their subsequent 'white papers' which have detailed plans for a return to the Moon. The Lunar Observer mission, although grandiose, seems to have been too expensive for the austere budgets of the last several years. However, the tens of thousands of man-hours that have gone into 'brainstorming' and production of plans and reports have provided the precursor material for today's missions. It has been only since last year (1991) that realistic optimism for lunar orbiters and soft landers has come forth. Plans are for 1995 and 1996 'Early Robotic Missions' to the Moon, with the collection of data necessary for answering several of the major problems in lunar science, as well as for resource and site evaluation, in preparation for soft landers and a manned-presence on the Moon.

Taylor, Lawrence A.↗
NASA NTRS2004

Development of a Lunar Consumables Storage and Distribution Depot

NASA is in the preliminary planning stages for a future lunar base as a response to President George W. Bush's recent announcement of a new sustained exploration program beyond low earth orbit. Kennedy Space Center engineers are supporting this program by utilizing experience in Spaceport system design and operations to help develop a Lunar Consumables Depot. This depot will store propellants, life support fluids, and other consumables either transported from Earth or manufactured from In Situ resources. The depot will distribute these consumables in an energy efficient manner to end users including spacecraft, habitation modules, and rovers. This paper addresses some of the changes to lunar base architecture design as a result of advances in knowledge of lunar resources over the past 35 years, as well as technology advances in the area of In Situ Resource Utilization and consumable storage and distribution. A general system level description of the depot will be presented, including overall design philosophy and high level requirements. Finally, specific subsystem technologies that have been or will be developed by KSC will be addressed. Examples of these technologies are automated umbilicals, cryogenic refrigerators, novel storage vessels, advanced heat switches and heat exchangers, and self healing gaskets and wires.

Mueller, Robert P.↗
NASA NTRS2007

Oxygen production System Models for Lunar ISRU

In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) seeks to make human space exploration feasible; by using available resources from a planet or the moon to produce consumables, parts, and structures that otherwise would be brought from Earth. Producing these in situ reduces the mass of such that must be launched and doing so allows more payload mass' for each mission. The production of oxygen from lunar regolith, for life support and propellant, is one of the tasks being studied under ISRU. NASA is currently funding three processes that have shown technical merit for the production of oxygen from regolith: Molten Salt Electrolysis, Hydrogen Reduction of Ilmenite, and Carbothermal Reduction. The ISRU program is currently developing system models of, the , abovementioned processes to: (1) help NASA in the evaluation process to select the most cost-effective and efficient process for further prototype development, (2) identify key parameters, (3) optimize the oxygen production process, (4) provide estimates on energy and power requirements, mass and volume.of the system, oxygen production rate, mass of regolith required, mass of consumables, and other important parameters, and (5) integrate into the overall end-to-end ISRU system model, which could be integrated with mission architecture models. The oxygen production system model is divided into modules that represent unit operations (e.g., reactor, water electrolyzer, heat exchanger). Each module is modeled theoretically using Excel and Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), and will be validated using experimental data from on-going laboratory work. This modularity (plug-n-play) feature of each unit operation allows the use of the same model on different oxygen production systems simulations resulting in comparable results. In this presentation, preliminary results for mass, power, volume will be presented along with brief description of the oxygen production system model.

Santiago-Maldonado, Edgardo↗