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NASA NTRS2016

Resource Prospector (RP: )A Lunar Volatiles Prospecting and In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) Demonstration Mission

Efficient expansion of human presence beyond low-Earth orbit to asteroids and Mars will require the maximum possible use of local materials, so-called in-situ resources. The moon presents a unique destination to conduct robotic investigations that advance ISRU capabilities, as well as provide significant exploration and science value. Since the moons polar regions have confirmed the presence of volatiles, as revealed by the LCROSS and LRO missions, the next step is to understand the nature and distribution of those candidate resources and how they might be extracted. Recent studies have even indicated that if those volatiles are practically available for harvesting, they could be processed into propellants and human life-support resources, significantly reducing the cost of human missions to Mars maybe by as much as 50!Resource Prospector (RP) is an in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) technology demonstration mission under study by the NASA Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorates (HEOMD). This clever mission is currently planned to launch as early as 2021 and will demonstrate extraction of oxygen, water and other volatiles, as well measure mineralogical content such as silicon and light metals from lunar regolith.

Lunar↗
NASA NTRS2016

Regolith Volatile Recovery at Simulated Lunar Environments

Lunar Polar Volatiles: Permanently shadowed craters at the lunar poles contain water, 5 wt according to LCROSS. Interest in water for ISRU applications. Desire to ground truth water using surface prospecting e.g. Resource Prospector and RESOLVE. How to access subsurface water resources and accurately measure quantity. Excavation operations and exposure to lunar environment may affect the results. Volatile capture tests: A series a ground based dirty thermal vacuum tests are being conducted to better understand the subsurface sampling operations. Sample removal and transfer. Volatiles loss during sampling operations. Concept of operations, Instrumentation. This presentation is a progress report on volatiles capture results from these tests with lunar polar drill prototype hardware.

thermal vacuum tests↗
NASA NTRS2017

Lunar Exploration Missions Since 2006

The announcement of the Vision for Space Exploration in 2004 sparked a resurgence in lunar missions worldwide. Since the publication of the first "New Views of the Moon" volume, as of 2017 there have been 11 science-focused missions to the Moon. Each of these missions explored different aspects of the Moon's geology, environment, and resource potential. The results from this flotilla of missions have revolutionized lunar science, and resulted in a profoundly new emerging understanding of the Moon. The New Views of the Moon II initiative itself, which is designed to engage the large and vibrant lunar science community to integrate the results of these missions into new consensus viewpoints, is a direct outcome of this impressive array of missions. The "Lunar Exploration Missions Since 2006" chapter will "set the stage" for the rest of the volume, introducing the planetary community at large to the diverse array of missions that have explored the Moon in the last decade. Content: This chapter will encompass the following missions: Kaguya; ARTEMIS (Acceleration, Reconnection, Turbulence, and Electrodynamics of the Moon’s Interaction with the Sun); Chang’e-1; Chandrayaan-1; Moon Impact Probe; Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO); Lunar Crater Observation Sensing Satellite (LCROSS); Chang’e-2; Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL); Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE); Chang’e-3.

LUNAR EXPLORATION MISSIONS 200↗
NASA NTRS2010

The General Mission Analysis Tool (GMAT): Current Features And Adding Custom Functionality

The General Mission Analysis Tool (GMAT) is a software system for trajectory optimization, mission analysis, trajectory estimation, and prediction developed by NASA, the Air Force Research Lab, and private industry. GMAT's design and implementation are based on four basic principles: open source visibility for both the source code and design documentation; platform independence; modular design; and user extensibility. The system, released under the NASA Open Source Agreement, runs on Windows, Mac and Linux. User extensions, loaded at run time, have been built for optimization, trajectory visualization, force model extension, and estimation, by parties outside of GMAT's development group. The system has been used to optimize maneuvers for the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) and ARTEMIS missions and is being used for formation design and analysis for the Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission (MMS).

Conway, Darrel J.↗
NASA NTRS2018

Volatiles Loss from Water Bearing Regolith Simulant at Lunar Environments

Permanently shadowed craters at the lunar poles contain water, ~5 wt% according to LCROSS. Interest in water for ISRU applications. Desire to 'ground truth' water using surface prospecting; e.g. Resource Prospector (RP) & RESOLVE. How to access subsurface water resources and accurately measure quantity; Excavation operations and exposure to lunar environment may affect the results A series a ground based dirty thermal vacuum tests are being conducted to better understand the subsurface sampling operations: Sample removal and transfer, Volatiles loss during sampling operations, Concept of operations, Instrumentation. This presentation covers: The capabilities of the VF-13 Thermal Vacuum Chamber (Tvac). The Resource Prospector TVAC hardware. The summary and results of 5 years of RP volatiles tests; 43 viable samples

In-situ Resource Utilization↗
NASA NTRS2018

Instrumentation for Lunar Volatile Analysis

Understanding the available lunar resources is key to incorporating their availability into exploration architectures. Previous lunar missions have provided insight into the potential resources on the moon as an initial step enabling in-situ resource utilization (ISRU). Orbiting missions, such as Clementine and Lunar Prospector, have mapped the lunar polar region and found enhanced hydrogen signals on kilometer-scale resolution. The Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) mission provided the first direct measurement of water ice in a permanently shadowed region. Future missions will provide ground truth data to measure and quantify lunar volatiles.One approach to exploration capitalizes on commercial partnerships for Class D risk aware missions. Partnerships with commercial partners enable rapid design cycles, leveraging the investment of the commercial industry in instrument development. Modified Commercial off the Shelf (COTS) hardware can be utilized to enhance capabilities in exploration missions. The hardware under development at the Kennedy Space Center for availability within the Commercial Lunar Payload Services opportunities capitalizes on modified COTS, enabling an aggressive delivery schedule and low-cost development. The modified hardware has been integrated and tested in a thermal vacuum environment, with final flight modifications currently in work. The use of a modified COTS instruments will be discussed for space applications.

Captain, J.↗
NASA NTRS2018

Polar Volatiles Exploration in Peary Crater Enabled by NASA's Kilopower Project

For more than 50 years, scientists have discussed the possibility of the existence of water ice and other frozen volatiles at the lunar poles [1]. However, it was not until the 1990s when the polar orbiting spacecraft Clementine and Lunar Prospector collected data supporting these hypotheses [2]. Subsequent missions, including the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) mission [3], and the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) mission [4], provided further evidence that supports the existence of water ice deposits at the lunar poles. During NASA's Constellation Program, several areas at both lunar poles polar were included in 50 Regions of Interest (ROI) for intensive study by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) [5]. These polar ROI focused on peaks and craters rims that received high amounts of solar illumination, assuming initial missions back to the lunar surface would utilize solar arrays to generate electricity. Recently, the successful demonstration of NASA's Kilopower Project at the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) Nevada National Security Site makes it possible to consider lunar polar missions at locations other than highly illuminated regions. The Kilopower Project was initiated in 2015 to demonstrate subsystem-level technology readiness of a small space fission power system [6]. This abstract describes the science objectives and operations for a mission concept developed at NASA Glenn Research Center's COMPASS Concurrent Engineering Team for a 1-year exploration of Peary Crater focused on prospecting for lunar polar volatiles.

Gruener, J. E.↗
NASA NTRS2019

Percentage of Water Retained in Icy Lunar Regolith Simulant During Transfer into a Sample Container

We now know that water ice exists on the lunar surface thanks to the findings of multiple lunar missions such as LRO and LCROSS. However, before we develop systems that can utilize this precious resource at a useful scale, we need to acquire more data about the concentration of water in the lunar regolith and how it may vary by depth and location. The OVEN (Optimized Volatile Extraction Node) system is designed to determine the concentration of water as part of an instrument called WAVE (Water Analysis & Volatile Extraction) which can be deployed during a lunar resource prospecting mission. Experiments were carried out at the Johnson Space Center in order to better understand the potential losses of water that may occur during a prospecting mission when a sample is transferred from a drill to the OVEN. A description of the experiment as well as the results will be presented here.

ISRU↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

VIPER: PATHFINDING IN-SITU RESOURCE UTILIZATION

With the Artemis Program, NASA plans to return humans to the Moon to stay. To help support extended stays on the moon, use of local materials - so-called in-situ resources could be invaluable. Since the moon’s polar regions have confirmed the presence of volatiles, as revealed by LCROSS, LRO and other lunar missions, the next step is to understand the nature and distribution of those candidate resources and how they might be extracted. Recent studies have even indicated that if those volatiles are practically available for harvesting, they could be processed into propellants and human life-support resources, significantly aiding in sustaining humans on the Moon, and eventually and later to sup-port missions to Mars

resource utilization↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

VIPER: Pathfinding Lunar Resource Understanding

With the Artemis Program, NASA plans to return humans to the Moon to stay. To help support extended stays on the moon, use of local materials -so-called in-situ resources could be invaluable. Since the moon’s polar regions have confirmed the presence of volatiles, as revealed by LCROSS, LRO and other lunar missions, the next step is to understand the nature and distribution of those candidate resources and how they might be extracted. Recent studies have even indicated that if those volatiles are practically available for harvesting, they could be processed into propellants and human life-support resources, significantly aiding in sustaining humans on the Moon, and eventually and later to sup-port missions to Mars.

Daniel Andrews↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

VIPER: Introduction to the Resource Prospecting Mission

With the Artemis Program, NASA plans to return humans to the Moon to stay, which means if there are local materials available, they could be deployed to help support extended lunar stays. Since the moon’s polar regions have confirmed the presence of volatiles, as revealed by LCROSS, LRO and other lunar missions, the next step is to understand the nature and distribution of those candidate resources and how they might be extracted. Recent studies have even indicated local volatiles could be processed into propellants and human life-supporting resources, significantly aiding in sustaining humans on the Moon, and eventually and later to support missions to Mars. The Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Resource (VIPER) is an in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) mission within NASA’s Science Mission Directorate (SMD), based on the pathfinding development of the Resource Prospector (RP) mission concept. This clever mission is targeting late 2023 and may spend over 100 days mapping and surveying four different Ice Stability Regions to understand the nature and distribution of water and volatiles already confirmed to be there, including measuring mineralogical content such as silicon and light metals from lunar regolith. The knowledge attained by a mission like VIPER could have many-fold benefits for space exploration, but also commercial applications. VIPER is an essential, early mission supporting the “moon rush” which has developed over the past few years, with both governments and commercial entities making their cases for lunar exploration. VIPER aims to understand just how the water-ice and other volatiles are distributed, both horizontally and vertically, enabling creation of volatiles resource maps, which will guide what might be required to harvest those resources at scale. With sufficient infrastructural investment, led by governments and then optimized by the commercial marketplace, VIPER will be a pathfinder mission addressing key decadal lunar science and early strategic knowledge gaps.

Daniel Andrews↗
NASA NTRS2021

Lunar Auger Dryer ISRU (LADI) Breadboard Testing and Model Validation

In 2009, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO)and Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite(LCROSS) provided definitive proof of water in the Lunar’s southern permanently shadowed region (PSR)[1]. Both the 2020 NASA Technology Taxonomy[2] and the Lunar Surface Innovation Initiative (LSII) team identified capability gaps in icy regolith transfer and reactor processing in Permanently Shadowed Region(PSR) environmental conditions. A screw conveyor dryer system operating from inside the PSR can continuously process water (and volatiles) for both breathable air and propellant. NASA’s Johnson Space Center (JSC) began development of a similar sub-system for Mars operation in 2017 and fabricated a unique breadboard test stand for validating the feasibility of this concept. This testing was postponed with the redirection of NASA’s mission from Mars to Moon. A JSC led trade study[3] in FY20 formulated a plan to leverage existing hardware to test concept feasibility, developed a lunar auger dryer sizing tool, and identified that both a physical flow and thermal model is required to develop an Engineering Development Unit (EDU) for environmental testing. Beginning in FY21, the Game Changing Development Program (GCDP) funded a three-year technology development project to increase the Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of the Lunar Auger Dryer ISRU (LADI) subsystem to TRL 5.

Lunar↗
NASA NTRS2022

Environmental Testing of the OVEN System for Lunar Water Extraction and Prospecting

Introduction: The presence of water ice in permanently shadowed regions on the lunar surface [1] may enable a sustained human presence on the Moon with minimal need for consumables. However, in order to develop a long term utilization plan that includes the usage of in-situ water we must first understand the abundance, stratigraphy and distribution of this re-source. Multiple space agencies currently have plans for lunar water prospecting missions. The Optimized Volatile Extraction Node (OVEN) was designed for water prospecting missions that require samples to be weighed, sealed, and heated as the means of determining water concentration. This method of water quantification necessitates a fair amount of automation, so a rigorous environmental test program was performed in order to build confidence in the performance of the OVEN design. The work presented here describes the OVEN environmental test program as well as ongoing efforts to improve on the design. Vibration: The OVEN participated in two rounds of random vibration tests. The first test was a stand-alone test performed at the Energy Systems Test Area of the Johnson Space Center. The second test was an integrated test with the mobile platform developed for the Resource Prospector project. The OVEN survived both tests without damage, but the tests did provide valuable lessons learned with regards to specific operations. Thermal Vacuum: The OVEN was successfully demonstrated at a temperature range of -50 to 75 C in a thermal vacuum chamber. The need to heat motor gearboxes at lower temperatures was predetermined so this test program was completed by implementing a method of gearbox heating that used the existing circuitry within the motors. Dust: A custom dynamometer was built in order to determine the torque required to move the various mechanisms within the OVEN at a range of temperatures. The OVEN system was coated with lunar dust simulant in order to determine mechanism torques under a worst-case operating condition. Sublimation: Sublimation losses within the OVEN were quantified through a series of test configurations, including an integrated test in a thermal vacuum chamber at Glenn Research Center [2]. Current Work: The OVEN subsystem is currently not a component of any existing prospecting missions, but work continues that will take the lessons learned from previous environmental tests and improve on the design in order to be considered for future prospecting opportunities. References: [1] Colaprete, A., Schultz, P., Heldmann, J., Wooden, D., Shirley, M., Ennico, K., ... & Sollitt, L. (2010). Detection of water in the LCROSS ejecta plume. science, 330(6003), 463-468. [2] Kleinhenz, J., Smith, J., Roush, T., Colaprete, A., Zacny, K., Paulsen, G., ... & Paz, A. (2018). Volatiles Loss from water bearing regolith simulant at Lunar Environments. In Earth and Space 2018: Engineering for Extreme Environments (pp. 454-466). Reston, VA: American Society of Civil Engineers.

A Paz↗
NASA NTRS2021

Lunar Auger Dryer ISRU (LADI) Breadboard Testing and Model Validation

In 2009, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO)and Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite(LCROSS) provided definitive proof of water in the Lunar’s southern permanently shadowed region (PSR)[1]. Both the 2020 NASA Technology Taxonomy[2] and the Lunar Surface Innovation Initiative (LSII) team identified capability gaps in icy regolith transfer and reactor processing in Permanently Shadowed Region(PSR) environmental conditions. A screw conveyor dryer system operating from inside the PSR can continuously process water (and volatiles) for both breathable air and propellant. NASA’s Johnson Space Center (JSC) began development of a similar sub-system for Mars operation in 2017 and fabricated a unique breadboard test stand for validating the feasibility of this concept. This testing was postponed with the redirection of NASA’s mission from Mars to Moon. A JSC led trade study[3] in FY20 formulated a plan to leverage existing hardware to test concept feasibility, developed a lunar auger dryer sizing tool, and identified that both a physical flow and thermal model is required to develop an Engineering Development Unit (EDU) for environmental testing. Beginning in FY21, the Game Changing Development Program (GCDP) funded a three-year technology development project to increase the Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of the Lunar Auger Dryer ISRU (LADI) subsystem to TRL 5.

Lunar↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

VIPER: Mission Design & Development

The NASA Artemis Program plans to return humans to the Moon to stay. Extended human stays on the Moon will require substantial resources to sustain human presence over the long-term, requiring continuous supplies delivered from the Earth. However, if some of the resources were indigenously available, substantial logistical complexity and costs could be saved by “living off the land”, wherever possible. The LCROSS, LRO and other missions have confirmed the presence of resources such as volatiles in polar regions, so the next step is to understand the scientific nature and physical distribution of those candidate resources. Those local volatiles could be processed into propellants and human life-supporting needs, reducing risk of maintaining a permanent human presence on the Moon. The Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Resource (VIPER) is a surface mobility scientific platform, designed to spend ~100 days mapping and surveying four different Ice Stability Regions to understand the scientific nature and distribution of water and other volatiles. VIPER will also provide scientific mineralogical context of the lunar regolith, such as the presence of silicon and light metals in lunar regolith, providing a composite picture of resource availability and sustainment. This paper will discuss the latest development progress by the VIPER team, following our initial introduction to this mission at IAC2021. The VIPER team has passed both its NASA Preliminary Design Review (PDR) and Critical Design Reviews (CDR), and is now looking to performing significant testing of engineering units representing the design, prior to the team turning its attention to building the flight hardware. VIPER is managed within NASA’s Science Mission Directorate (SMD), utilizing the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) delivery model with partner, Astrobotic, Inc.

Daniel Andrews↗
NASA NTRS2022

Lunar Auger Dryer ISRU (LADI) Mechanical Testing and Supporting Models

In 2009, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) and Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) provided definitive proof of water in the Lunar’s southern permanently shadowed region (PSR). Both the 2020 NASA Technology Taxonomy and the Lunar Surface Innovation Initiative (LSII) team identified capability gaps in icy regolith transfer and reactor processing in Permanently Shad-owed Region (PSR) environmental conditions. A water processing plant operating from inside the PSR can continuously process water (and volatiles) for both breathable air and propellant. NASA’s Johnson Space Center (JSC) began development of the primary sub-system for a Mars plant in 2017 and fabricated a unique breadboard test stand for validating the feasibility of this concept. This testing was postponed with the redirection of NASA’s mission from Mars to Moon. A JSC led trade study in FY20 formulated a plan to leverage existing hardware to test concept feasibility, developed a lunar auger dryer sizing tool, and identified that both physical flow and thermal models are required to develop an Engineering Development Unit (EDU) for environmental testing. Beginning in FY21, the Game Changing Development Program (GCDP) funded a three-year technology development project to increase the Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of the Lunar Auger Dryer ISRU (LADI) subsystem to TRL 5.

Lunar↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Numerical Modelling of Sublimation Losses During Sample Handling Within the Light WAVE Lunar Water Prospecting Instrument

NASA’s focus of exploring the Moon’s south pole under the Artemis program has placed new emphasis on characterizing the quantity and distribution of water ice and other volatiles present within the Moon’s permanently shadowed regions (PSRs), first measured during the 2009 LCROSS mission. NASA’s VIPER rover is the first of a series of prospecting missions to characterize this water ice resource. NASA’s Johnson Space Center (JSC) has developed the Light Water Analysis and Volatiles Extraction (Light WAVE) instrument shown in Figure 1 for a follow-on prospecting mission, designed to be a rover payload for water ice prospecting at various depths and locations within PSRs. A key source of error for lunar water prospecting instruments, including Light WAVE, is the loss of water in an icy regolith sample to the lunar vacuum via sublimation due to heating above its ice-stable temperature. This abstract and conference presentation discuss a sublimation model for Light WAVE’s sample crucible using COMSOL Multiphysics to assess the sublimation losses that would occur between sample collection from an external drill and sealing the sample within Light WAVE’s boiler.

Lunar Polar Water↗
NASA NTRS2022

Astrodynamics Convention and Modeling Reference for Lunar, Cislunar, and Libration Point Orbits

The purpose and direction of this document is to provide U.S. government agencies, specifically National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and Department of Defense (DoD) space related centers, with a foundational summary of astrodynamics concepts for trajectory design, navigation, and operations in the cislunar, lunar, and libration point regions. This document is provided in response to an Interagency Agreement (IAA) between NASA and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA). With applications to these regions of the Earth-Moon system, this document summarizes: the definitions of standard and unique coordinate systems for Positioning, Navigation, Timing and targeting (PNT), transformations between those coordinate frames, definitions of common time systems, a description of numerical integration, description of a widely-used and approximate dynamical model of a three-body system for preliminary analysis and nomenclature definition, description of higher-fidelity models of cislunar space, and the application of these concepts to sample scenarios with a focus on common steps in trajectory and maneuver design for a spacecraft in cislunar space. This information is critical to mission design and navigation far above the geosynchronous orbit region, where lunar perturbations are required to be modeled accurately and consistently but render trajectory design and analysis a complex procedure. Software tools such as the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) open source General Mission Analysis Tool (GMAT) is used as a reference, along with a wide variety of resources constructed by NASA and other government agencies, academia, and industry, for mathematical specifications and practical considerations. This document has been prepared by and under the auspices of NASA. The GSFC Mission Engineering and Systems Analysis (MESA) Division (Code 590) and the Navigation and Mission Design Branch (Code 595) are part of NASA. Their engineers and scientists have expertise in lunar, cislunar, and libration point region trajectory guidance and navigation and timing. NASA GSFC has supported many successful lunar and cislunar missions over the past several decades. These missions include the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), the two Acceleration, Reconnection, Turbulence and Electrodynamics of the Moon’s Interaction with the Sun (ARTEMIS) spacecraft, Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), Lunar Prospector, Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS), Clementine, and several Sun-Earth libration point missions such as WIND and Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR), dating back four decades. NASA GSFC also supports the upcoming Gateway lunar mission, the Artemis Lunar Program and Human Landing Systems, and leads both the Lunar IceCube low thrust mission and concept design for the Lunar Communication Relay and Navigation System (LCRNS).

Lunar, CisLunar, Libration, trajectory dynamics, p↗