In situ resource utilization

ISRU reverse water gas shift testbed (NASA KSC)

ISRU Pilot Excavator – A NASA project

In space exploration, in situ resource utilization (ISRU) is the practice of collection, processing, storing and use of materials found or manufactured on other astronomical objects (the Moon, Mars, asteroids, etc.) that replace materials that would otherwise be brought from Earth. ^[1]

ISRU could provide materials for life support, propellants, construction materials, and energy to a spacecraft payloads or space exploration crews. It is now very common for spacecraft and robotic planetary surface mission to harness the solar radiation found in situ in the form of solar panels. The use of ISRU for material production has not yet been implemented in a space mission, though several field tests in the late 2000s demonstrated various lunar ISRU techniques in a relevant environment. ^[2]

ISRU has long been considered as a possible avenue for reducing the mass and cost of space exploration architectures, in that it may be a way to drastically reduce the amount of payload that must be launched from Earth in order to explore a given planetary body. According to NASA, "in-situ resource utilization will enable the affordable establishment of extraterrestrial exploration and operations by minimizing the materials carried from Earth." ^[3]

Uses

Water

In the context of ISRU water is most often sought directly as fuel or as feedstock for fuel production. Applications include its use in life support either directly by drinking, for growing food, producing oxygen, or numerous other industrial processes, all of which require a ready supply of water in the environment and the equipment to extract it. Such extraterrestrial water has been discovered in a variety of forms throughout the solar system, and a number of potential water extraction technologies have been investigated. For water that is chemically bound to regolith, solid ice, or some manner of permafrost, sufficient heating can recover the water. However this is not as easy as it appears because ice and permafrost can often be harder than plain rock, necessitating laborious mining operations. Where there is some level of atmosphere, such as on Mars, water can be extracted directly from the air using a simple process such as WAVAR. Another possible source of water is deep aquifers kept warm by Mars's latent geological heat, which can be tapped to provide both water and geothermal power.^{[ citation needed ]}

Rocket propellant

Rocket propellant production has been proposed from the Moon's surface by processing water ice detected at the poles. The likely difficulties include working at extremely low temperatures and extraction from the regolith. Most schemes electrolyse the water to produce hydrogen and oxygen and cryogenically store them as liquids. This requires large amounts of equipment and power to achieve. Alternatively, it may be possible to heat water in a nuclear or solar thermal rocket, ^[4] which may be able to deliver a large mass from the Moon to low Earth orbit (LEO) in spite of the much lower specific impulse, for a given amount of equipment. ^[5]

The monopropellant hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) can be made from water on Mars and the Moon. ^[6]

Aluminum as well as other metals has been proposed for use as rocket propellant made using lunar resources, ^[7] and proposals include reacting the aluminum with water. ^[8]

For Mars, methane propellant can be manufactured via the Sabatier process. SpaceX has suggested building a propellant plant on Mars that would use this process to produce methane (CH
_⁴) and liquid oxygen (O₂) from sub-surface water ice and atmospheric CO
_². ^[9]

Solar cell production

It has long been suggested that solar cells could be produced from the materials present in lunar soil. Silicon, aluminium, and glass, three of the primary materials required for solar cell production, are found in high concentrations in lunar soil and can be utilised to produce solar cells. ^[10] In fact, the native vacuum on the lunar surface provides an excellent environment for direct vacuum deposition of thin-film materials for solar cells. ^[11]

Solar arrays produced on the lunar surface can be used to support lunar surface operations as well as satellites off the lunar surface. Solar arrays produced on the lunar surface may prove more cost effective than solar arrays produced and shipped from Earth, but this trade depends heavily on the location of the particular application in question.^{[ citation needed ]}

Another potential application of lunar-derived solar arrays is providing power to Earth. In its original form, known as the solar power satellite, the proposal was intended as an alternate power source for Earth. Solar cells would be launched into Earth orbit and assembled, with the resultant generated power being transmitted down to Earth via microwave beams. ^[12] Despite much work on the cost of such a venture, the uncertainty lay in the cost and complexity of fabrication procedures on the lunar surface.

Building materials

The colonization of planets or moons will require obtaining local building materials, such as regolith. For example, studies employing artificial Mars soil mixed with epoxy resin and tetraethoxysilane, produce high enough values of strength, resistance, and flexibility parameters. ^[13]

Asteroid mining could also involve extraction of metals for construction material in space, which may be more cost-effective than bringing such material up out of Earth's deep gravity well, or that of any other large body like the Moon or Mars. Metallic asteroids contain huge amounts of siderophilic metals, including precious metals.^{[ citation needed ]}

Locations

Mars

See also: SpaceX Mars transportation infrastructure and Mars Direct

ISRU research for Mars is focused primarily on providing rocket propellant for a return trip to Earth — either for a crewed or a sample return mission — or for use as fuel on Mars. Many of the proposed techniques utilise the well-characterised atmosphere of Mars as feedstock. Since this can be easily simulated on Earth, these proposals are relatively simple to implement, though it is by no means certain that NASA or the ESA will favour this approach over a more conventional direct mission. ^[14]

A typical proposal for ISRU is the use of a Sabatier reaction, CO₂ + 4H₂ → CH₄ + 2H₂O, in order to produce methane on the Martian surface, to be used as a propellant. Oxygen is liberated from the water by electrolysis, and the hydrogen recycled back into the Sabatier reaction. The usefulness of this reaction is that—as of 2008 ^[update] , when the availability of water on Mars was less scientifically demonstrated—only the hydrogen (which is light) was thought to need to be brought from Earth. ^[15]

As of 2018 ^[update] , SpaceX has stated their goal of developing the technology for a Mars propellant plant that could use a variation on what is described in the previous paragraph. Rather than transporting hydrogen from Earth to use in making the methane and oxygen, they have said they plan to mine the requisite water from subsurface water ice, produce and then store the post-Sabatier reactants, and then use it as propellant for return flights of their Starship no earlier than 2023. ^{[16] [17]} As of 2023 SpaceX has not produced or published any designs, specifications for any ISRU technology. ^[18]

A similar reaction proposed for Mars is the reverse water gas shift reaction, CO₂ + H₂ → CO + H₂O. This reaction takes place rapidly in the presence of an iron-chrome catalyst at 400 °C, ^[19] and has been implemented in an Earth-based testbed by NASA. ^[20] Again, hydrogen is recycled from the water by electrolysis, and the reaction only needs a small amount of hydrogen from Earth. The net result of this reaction is the production of oxygen, to be used as the oxidizer component of rocket fuel.^{[ citation needed ]}

Another reaction proposed for the production of oxygen and fuel ^[21] is the electrolysis of the atmospheric carbon dioxide,

${\displaystyle {\ce {{\overset {atmospheric \atop {carbon\ dioxide}}{2CO2}}->[{\text{energy}}]{2CO}+O2}}}$ ^[22]

It has also been proposed the in situ production of oxygen, hydrogen and CO from the Martian hematite deposits via a two-step thermochemical CO₂/H₂O splitting process, and specifically in the magnetite/wustite redox cycle. ^[23] Although thermolysis is the most direct, one-step process for splitting molecules, it is neither practical nor efficient in the case of either H₂O or CO₂. This is because the process requires a very high temperature (> 2,500 °C) to achieve a useful dissociation fraction. ^[24] This poses problems in finding suitable reactor materials, losses due to vigorous product recombination, and excessive aperture radiation losses when concentrated solar heat is used. The magnetite/wustite redox cycle was first proposed for solar application on earth by Nakamura, ^[25] and was one of the first used for solar-driven two-step water splitting. In this cycle, water reacts with wustite (FeO) to form magnetite (Fe₃O₄) and hydrogen. The summarised reactions in this two-step splitting process are as follows:

${\displaystyle {\ce {Fe3O4->[{\text{energy}}]{3FeO}+\overbrace {1/2O2} ^{\underset {(\operatorname {by-product} )}{oxygen}}}}}$

and the obtained FeO is used for the thermal splitting of water or CO₂ :

3FeO + H₂O → Fe₃O₄ + H₂

3FeO + CO₂ → Fe₃O₄ + CO

This process is repeated cyclically. The above process results in a substantial reduction in the thermal input of energy if compared with the most direct, one-step process for splitting molecules. ^[26]

However, the process needs wustite (FeO) to start the cycle, but on Mars there is no wustite or at least not in significant amounts. Nevertheless, wustite can be easily obtained by reduction of hematite (Fe₂O₃) which is an abundant material on Mars, being specially conspicuous the strong hematite deposits located at Terra Meridiani. ^[27] The use of wustite from the hematite, abundantly available on Mars, is an industrial process well known on Earth, and is performed by the following two main reduction reactions:^{[ citation needed ]}

3Fe₂O₃ + H₂ → 2Fe₃O₄ + H₂O

3Fe₂O₃ + CO → 2Fe₃O₄ + CO₂

The proposed 2001 Mars Surveyor lander was to demonstrate manufacture of oxygen from the atmosphere of Mars, ^[28] and test solar cell technologies and methods of mitigating the effect of Martian dust on the power systems, but the project was cancelled. ^[29] The Mars 2020 rover mission includes a ISRU technology demonstrator (the Mars Oxygen ISRU Experiment) that will extract CO₂ from the atmosphere and produce O₂. ^[30]

It has been suggested that buildings on Mars could be made from basalt as it has good insulating properties. An underground structure of this type would be able to protect life forms against radiation exposure. ^[31]

All of the resources required to make plastics exist on Mars. ^{[32] [33]} Many of these complex reactions are able to be completed from the gases harvested from the martian atmosphere. Traces of free oxygen, carbon monoxide, water and methane are all known to exist. ^{[34] [35]} Hydrogen and oxygen can be made by the electrolysis of water, carbon monoxide and oxygen by the electrolysis of carbon dioxide and methane by the Sabatier reaction of carbon dioxide and hydrogen. These basic reactions provide the building blocks for more complex reaction series which are able to make plastics. Ethylene is used to make plastics such as polyethylene and polypropylene and can be made from carbon monoxide and hydrogen: ^[36]

2CO + 4H₂ → C₂H₄ + 2H₂O.

Moon

Main article: Lunar resources

The Moon possesses abundant raw materials that are potentially relevant to a hierarchy of future applications, beginning with the use of lunar materials to facilitate human activities on the Moon itself and progressing to the use of lunar resources to underpin a future industrial capability within the Earth-Moon system. ^[37] Natural resources include solar power, oxygen, water, hydrogen, and metals. ^{[38] [39]}

The lunar highland material anorthite can be used as aluminium ore. Smelters can produce pure aluminium, calcium metal, oxygen and silica glass from anorthite. Raw anorthite is also good for making fiberglass and other glass and ceramic products. ^[40] One particular processing technique is to use fluorine brought from Earth as potassium fluoride to separate the raw materials from the lunar rocks. ^[41]

Over twenty different methods have been proposed for oxygen extraction from the lunar regolith. ^[7] Oxygen is often found in iron-rich lunar minerals and glasses as iron oxide. The oxygen can be extracted by heating the material to temperatures above 900 °C and exposing it to hydrogen gas. The basic equation is: FeO + H₂ → Fe + H₂O. This process has recently been made much more practical by the discovery of significant amounts of hydrogen-containing regolith near the Moon's poles by the Clementine spacecraft. ^[42]

Lunar materials may also be used as a general construction material, ^[43] through processing techniques such as sintering, hot-pressing, liquification, and the cast basalt method. Cast basalt is used on Earth for construction of, for example, pipes where a high resistance to abrasion is required. ^[44] Glass and glass fiber are straightforward to process on the Moon and Mars. ^[40] Basalt fibre has also been made from lunar regolith simulators.

Successful tests have been performed on Earth using two lunar regolith simulants MLS-1 and MLS-2. ^[45] In August 2005, NASA contracted for the production of 16 tonnes of simulated lunar soil, or lunar regolith simulant material for research on how lunar soil could be utilized in situ. ^{[46] [47]}

Martian moons, Ceres, asteroids

Other proposals ^[48] are based on Phobos and Deimos. These moons are in reasonably high orbits above Mars, have very low escape velocities, and unlike Mars have return delta-v's from their surfaces to LEO which are less than the return from the Moon.^{[ citation needed ]}

Ceres is further out than Mars, with a higher delta-v, but launch windows and travel times are better, and the surface gravity is just 0.028 g, with a very low escape velocity of 510 m/s. Researchers have speculated that the interior configuration of Ceres includes a water-ice-rich mantle over a rocky core. ^[49]

Near Earth Asteroids and bodies in the asteroid belt could also be sources of raw materials for ISRU.^{[ citation needed ]}

Planetary atmospheres

Proposals have been made for "mining" for rocket propulsion, using what is called a Propulsive Fluid Accumulator. Atmospheric gases like oxygen and argon could be extracted from the atmosphere of planets like the Earth, Mars, and the outer Gas Giants by Propulsive Fluid Accumulator satellites in low orbit. ^[50]

ISRU capability classification (NASA)

In October 2004, NASA's Advanced Planning and Integration Office commissioned an ISRU capability roadmap team. The team's report, along with those of 14 other capability roadmap teams, were published 22 May 2005. ^[51] The report identifies seven ISRU capabilities: ^{[51] : 278}

1. resource extraction,
2. material handling and transport,
3. resource processing,
4. surface manufacturing with in situ resources,
5. surface construction,
6. surface ISRU product and consumable storage and distribution, and
7. ISRU unique development and certification capabilities. ^{[51] : 265}

The report focuses on lunar and martian environments. It offers a detailed timeline ^{[51] : 274} and capability roadmap to 2040 ^{[51] : 280–281} but it assumes lunar landers in 2010 and 2012. ^{[51] : 280}

ISRU technology demonstrators and prototypes

The Mars Surveyor 2001 Lander was intended to carry to Mars a test payload, MIP (Mars ISPP Precursor), that was to demonstrate manufacture of oxygen from the atmosphere of Mars, ^[52] but the mission was cancelled.^{[ citation needed ]}

The Mars Oxygen ISRU Experiment (MOXIE) is a 1% scale prototype model aboard the Mars 2020 rover Perseverance that produces oxygen from Martian atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO₂) in a process called solid oxide electrolysis. ^{[53] [54] [55] [56]} The experiment produced its first 5.37 grams of oxygen on 20 April 2021. ^[57]

The lunar Resource Prospector rover was designed to scout for resources on a polar region of the Moon, and it was proposed to be launched in 2022. ^{[58] [59]} The mission concept was still in its pre-formulation stage, and a prototype rover was being tested when it was scrapped in April 2018. ^{[60] [58] [59]} Its science instruments will be flown instead on several commercial lander missions contracted by NASA's new Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLSP) program, that aims to focus on testing various lunar ISRU processes by landing several payloads on multiple commercial landers and rovers. The first formal solicitation is expected sometime in 2019. ^{[61] [62]} The spiritual successor to the Resource Prospector became VIPER (rover), scheduled to land on the moon in 2024.

See also

• Anthony Zuppero  – American nuclear scientist
• Asteroid mining  – Exploitation of raw materials from asteroids
• David Criswell  – American astronomer
• Dan Britt  – AstrogeologistPages displaying short descriptions with no spaces
• Direct reduced iron  – Newly mined and refined type of metal
• Gerard K. O'Neill  – American physicist, author, and inventor (1927–1992)
• Human outpost  – Human habitats located in environments inhospitable for humans
• Lunar outpost (NASA)  – Concepts for extended human presence on the MoonPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets
• Lunar resources  – Potential natural resources on the Moon
• Lunar water  – Presence of water on the Moon
• Lunarcrete  – Hypothetical aggregate building material, similar to concrete, formed from lunar regolith
• Mars Design Reference Mission  – Conceptual design studies for crewed missions to Mars
• Mars to Stay  – Mars colonization architecture proposing no return vehicles
• Planetary protection  – Prevention of interplanetary biological contamination
• Planetary surface construction  – Construction of structures on planetary surface
• Propellant depot  – Cache of propellant used to refuel spacecraftPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets
• Propulsive fluid accumulator  – A self-filling orbital rocket fuel depot
• Shackleton Energy Company  – formed in 2007 with the goal to prepare the equipment and technologies necessary for mining the MoonPages displaying wikidata descriptions as a fallback
• Space architecture  – Architecture of off-planet habitable structures
• Space colonization  – Concept of permanent human habitation outside of Earth
• Vision for Space Exploration  – 2004 US human space exploration plan

References

1. Sacksteder, Kurt R.; Sanders, Gerald B. (January 2007). "In-situ resource utilization for lunar and mars exploration". AIAA 2007-345. AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting and Exhibit. doi:10.2514/6.2007-345. ISBN   978-1-62410-012-3.
2. Sanders, Gerald B.; Larson, William E. (4 January 2011). "Integration of In-Situ Resource Utilization into lunar/Mars exploration through field analogs". Advances in Space Research. 47 (1): 20–29. Bibcode:2011AdSpR..47...20S. doi:10.1016/j.asr.2010.08.020. hdl: 2060/20100021362 . S2CID   120129018.
3. "In-Situ Resource Utilization". NASA Ames Research Center. Archived from the original on 8 September 2018. Retrieved 14 January 2007.
4. LSP water truck Archived 25 July 2018 at the Wayback Machine . Neofuel.com. Retrieved on 2014-06-11.
5. steam rocket factor 1000 Archived 16 November 2017 at the Wayback Machine . Neofuel.com. Retrieved on 2014-06-11.
6. "Chapter 6: Viking and the Resources of Mars (from a history of NASA)" (PDF). NASA. Archived (PDF) from the original on 14 July 2019. Retrieved 20 August 2012.
7. Hepp, Aloysius F.; Linne, Diane L.; Groth, Mary F.; Landis, Geoffrey A.; Colvin, James E. (1994). "Production and use of metals and oxygen for lunar propulsion". Journal of Propulsion and Power. 10 (16): 834–840. doi:10.2514/3.51397. hdl: 2060/19910019908 . S2CID   120318455. Archived from the original on 26 January 2020. Retrieved 7 July 2017.
8. Page, Lewis (24 August 2009). "New NASA rocket fuel 'could be made on Moon, Mars'". The Register . Archived from the original on 11 April 2019. Retrieved 10 August 2017.
9. Musk, Elon (1 March 2018). "Making Life Multi-Planetary". New Space. 6 (1): 2–11. Bibcode:2018NewSp...6....2M. doi:10.1089/space.2018.29013.emu.
10. Landis, Geoffrey A. (1 May 2007). "Materials refining on the Moon". Acta Astronautica. 60 (10–11): 906–915. Bibcode:2007AcAau..60..906L. doi:10.1016/j.actaastro.2006.11.004.
11. Curreri, Peter; Ethridge, E.C.; Hudson, S.B.; Miller, T.Y.; Grugel, R.N.; Sen, S.; Sadoway, Donald R. (2006). "Process Demonstration For Lunar In Situ Resource Utilization—Molten Oxide Electrolysis" (PDF). MSFC Independent Research and Development Project (No. 5–81), 2. Archived (PDF) from the original on 7 May 2017. Retrieved 7 July 2017.
12. "Lunar Solar Power System for Energy Prosperity Within the 21st Century" (PDF). World Energy Council. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 March 2012. Retrieved 26 March 2007.
13. Mukbaniani, O. V.; Aneli, J. N.; Markarashvili, E. G.; Tarasashvili, M. V.; Aleksidze, D. (April 2016). "Polymeric composites on the basis of Martian ground for building future mars stations". International Journal of Astrobiology. 15 (2): 155–160. Bibcode:2016IJAsB..15..155M. doi:10.1017/S1473550415000270. S2CID   123421464.
14. "Mars Sample Return". esa.int. Archived from the original on 3 December 2012. Retrieved 5 February 2008.
15. "Sizing of a Combined Sabatier Reaction and Water Electrolysis Plant for Use in in Situ Resource Utilization on Mars". clas.ufl.edu. Archived from the original on 4 February 2007. Retrieved 5 February 2008.
16. "Making Humans a Multiplanetary Species" (PDF). SpaceX. 27 September 2016. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 September 2016. Retrieved 9 October 2016.
17. Richardson, Derek (27 September 2016). "Elon Musk Shows Off Interplanetary Transport System". Spaceflight Insider. Archived from the original on 1 October 2016. Retrieved 9 October 2016.
18. "Elon Musk's Plan to Send a Million Colonists to Mars by 2050 Is Pure Delusion". Gizmodo. 3 June 2022. Retrieved 26 December 2023.
19. "The Reverse Water Gas Shift". Archived from the original on 26 February 2007. Retrieved 14 January 2007.
20. "Mars In Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) Testbed". NASA. Archived from the original on 17 October 2007. Retrieved 14 January 2007.
21. Landis, Geoffrey A.; Linne, Diane L. (1 January 2001). "Mars Rocket Vehicle Using In Situ Propellants". Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets. 38 (5): 730–735. Bibcode:2001JSpRo..38..730L. doi:10.2514/2.3739.
22. Wall, Mike (1 August 2014). "Oxygen-Generating Mars Rover to Bring Colonization Closer". Space.com. Archived from the original on 23 April 2021. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
23. Francisco J. Arias. 2016. On the in situ production of oxygen and hydrogen from Martian hematite deposits via a two-step thermochemical CO₂/H₂O splitting process. Journal of Space Colonization. Issue 5. ISSN 2053-1737
24. Ermanoski, Ivan; Siegel, Nathan P.; Stechel, Ellen B. (2013). "A New Reactor Concept for Efficient Solar-Thermochemical Fuel Production". Journal of Solar Energy Engineering. 135 (3). doi:10.1115/1.4023356. ISSN   0199-6231.
25. Nakamura, T. (1977). "Hydrogen production from water utilizing solar heat at high temperatures". Solar Energy. 19 (5): 467–475. Bibcode:1977SoEn...19..467N. doi:10.1016/0038-092X(77)90102-5. ISSN   0038-092X.
26. Roeb, Martin; Neises, Martina; Monnerie, Nathalie; et al. (2012). "Materials-Related Aspects of Thermochemical Water and Carbon Dioxide Splitting: A Review". Materials. 5 (11): 2015–2054. Bibcode:2012Mate....5.2015R. doi: 10.3390/ma5112015 . ISSN   1996-1944. PMC   5449008 .
27. William K. Hartmann. 2003. A Traveler's Guide to Mars: The Mysterious Landscapes of the Red Planet. Workman Pub., 2003-Science
28. Kaplan, D. et al., THE MARS IN-SITU-PROPELLANT-PRODUCTION PRECURSOR (MIP) FLIGHT DEMONSTRATION Archived 27 September 2013 at the Wayback Machine , paper presented at Mars 2001: Integrated Science in Preparation for Sample Return and Human Exploration, Lunar and Planetary Institute, 2–4 Oct. 1999, Houston, TX.
29. Landis, G. A.; Jenkins, P.; Scheiman, D. and Baraona, C. "MATE and DART: An Instrument Package for Characterizing Solar Energy and Atmospheric Dust on Mars Archived 27 September 2013 at the Wayback Machine ", presented at Concepts and Approaches for Mars Exploration, 18–20 July 2000, Houston, Texas.
30. Klotz, Irene (21 November 2013). "Mars 2020 Rover To Include Test Device To Tap Planet's Atmosphere for Oxygen". Space News. Archived from the original on 22 November 2013. Retrieved 22 November 2013.
31. Szondy, David (12 September 2013). "ZA architects designs buildings for Mars". New Atlas. Archived from the original on 2 December 2016. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
32. "The Case for Colonizing Mars, by Robert Zubrin". Archived from the original on 1 December 2016. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
33. Gholipour, Bahar (7 October 2013). "3-D printing seen as key to sustaining human colony on Mars". NBC News. Archived from the original on 29 June 2017. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
34. Lefèvre, Franck (2019). "The Enigma of Methane on Mars" (PDF). Biosignatures for Astrobiology. Advances in Astrobiology and Biogeophysics. pp. 253–266. Bibcode:2019bias.book..253L. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-96175-0_12. ISBN   978-3-319-96174-3. S2CID   188091191. Archived from the original on 8 March 2019. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
35. "Mars". Archived from the original on 15 June 2011. Retrieved 6 September 2017.
36. "Plastics". Archived from the original on 13 March 2016. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
37. Crawford, Ian (2015). "Lunar Resources: A Review". Progress in Physical Geography. 39 (2): 137–167. arXiv: 1410.6865 . Bibcode:2015PrPhG..39..137C. doi:10.1177/0309133314567585. S2CID   54904229.
38. Crawford, Ian (2015). "Lunar Resources: A Review". Progress in Physical Geography. 39 (2): 137–167. arXiv: 1410.6865 . Bibcode:2015PrPhG..39..137C. doi:10.1177/0309133314567585. S2CID   54904229.
39. Lunar ISRU 2019: Developing a New Space Economy Through Lunar Resources and Their Utilization. 15–17 July 2019, Columbia, Maryland.
40. "Mining and Manufacturing on the Moon". NASA. Archived from the original on 6 December 2006. Retrieved 14 January 2007.
41. Landis, Geoffrey. "Refining Lunar Materials for Solar Array Production on the Moon" (PDF). NASA. Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 October 2006. Retrieved 26 March 2007.
42. Nozette, S.; Lichtenberg, C. L.; Spudis, P.; Bonner, R.; Ort, W.; Malaret, E.; Robinson, M.; Shoemaker, E. M. (November 1996). "The Clementine Bistatic Radar Experiment". Science. 274 (5292): 1495–1498. Bibcode:1996Sci...274.1495N. doi: 10.1126/science.274.5292.1495 . hdl: 2060/19970023672 . PMID   8929403.
43. "Indigenous lunar construction materials". AIAA PAPER 91-3481. Archived from the original on 3 June 2016. Retrieved 14 January 2007.
44. "Cast Basalt" (PDF). Ultratech. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 August 2006. Retrieved 14 January 2007.
45. Tucker, Dennis S.; Ethridge, Edwin C. (11 May 1998). Processing Glass Fiber from Moon/Mars Resources (PDF). Proceedings of American Society of Civil Engineers Conference, 26–30 April 1998. Albuquerque, NM; United States. 19990104338. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 September 2000.
46. "NASA Science & Mission Systems Office". Archived from the original on 1 October 2006. Retrieved 14 January 2007.
47. "bringing commercialization to maturity". PLANET LLC. Archived from the original on 10 January 2007. Retrieved 14 January 2007.
48. Anthony Zuppero and Geoffrey A. Landis, "Mass budget for mining the moons of Mars," Resources of Near-Earth Space, University of Arizona, 1991 (abstract here Archived 3 June 2016 at the Wayback Machine or here Archived 22 October 2018 at the Wayback Machine )
49. Thomas, P.C; Parker J.Wm.; McFadden, L.A.; et al. (2005). "Differentiation of the asteroid Ceres as revealed by its shape". Nature. 437 (7056): 224–226. Bibcode:2005Natur.437..224T. doi:10.1038/nature03938. PMID   16148926. S2CID   17758979.
50. Jones, C.; Masse, D.; Glass, C.; Wilhite, A.; Walker, M. (March 2010). "PHARO—Propellant harvesting of atmospheric resources in orbit". 2010 IEEE Aerospace Conference. pp. 1–9. doi:10.1109/AERO.2010.5447034. ISBN   978-1-4244-3887-7. S2CID   36476911.
51. "NASA Capability Roadmaps Executive Summary" (PDF). NASA. pp. 264–291. Archived (PDF) from the original on 27 July 2022. Retrieved 7 July 2017.
52. D. Kaplan et al., THE MARS IN-SITU-PROPELLANT-PRODUCTION PRECURSOR (MIP) FLIGHT DEMONSTRATION Archived 27 September 2013 at the Wayback Machine , paper presented at Mars 2001: Integrated Science in Preparation for Sample Return and Human Exploration, Lunar and Planetary Institute, 2–4 Oct. 1999, Houston, TX.
53. "NASA TechPort -- Mars OXygen ISRU Experiment Project". NASA TechPort. Archived from the original on 17 October 2020. Retrieved 19 November 2015.
54. Wall, Mike (1 August 2014). "Oxygen-Generating Mars Rover to Bring Colonization Closer". Space.com. Archived from the original on 23 April 2021. Retrieved 5 November 2014.
55. "Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment (MOXIE) - NASA". mars.nasa.gov. 6 April 2020. Retrieved 7 January 2024.
56. Weinstock, Maia (31 July 2014). "Going to the Red Planet". MIT News. Archived from the original on 1 August 2015. Retrieved 5 November 2014.
57. Potter, Sean (21 April 2021). "NASA's Perseverance Mars Rover Extracts First Oxygen from Red Planet". NASA. Archived from the original on 22 April 2021. Retrieved 22 April 2021.
58. Grush, Loren (27 April 2018). "NASA scraps a lunar surface mission — just as it's supposed to focus on a Moon return". The Verge. Archived from the original on 3 November 2018. Retrieved 29 December 2018.
59. Berger, Eric (27 April 2018). "New NASA leader faces an early test on his commitment to Moon landings". ARS Technica. Archived from the original on 18 October 2018. Retrieved 29 December 2018.
60. Resource Prospector Archived 8 March 2019 at the Wayback Machine . Advanced Exploration Systems, NASA. 2017.
61. "NASA Expands Plans for Moon Exploration: More Missions, More Science". SpaceRef. 3 May 2018. Archived from the original on 1 October 2021. Retrieved 29 December 2018.
62. "Draft Commercial Lunar Payload Services - CLPS solicitation". Federal Business Opportunities. NASA. Archived from the original on 8 October 2018. Retrieved 4 June 2018.

Further reading

• Resource Utilization Concepts for MoonMars; ByIris Fleischer, Olivia Haider, Morten W. Hansen, Robert Peckyno, Daniel Rosenberg and Robert E. Guinness; 30 September 2003; IAC Bremen, 2003 (29 Sept – 3 Oct 2003) and MoonMars Workshop (26–28 Sept 2003, Bremen). Accessed on 18 January 2010
• Crawford, Ian A. (2015). "Lunar Resources: A Review". Progress in Physical Geography. 39 (2): 137–167. arXiv: 1410.6865 . Bibcode:2015PrPhG..39..137C. doi:10.1177/0309133314567585. S2CID   54904229.

External links

• UW AA Dept. ISRU Research Lab
• ISRU solar cell manufacture
• ISRU on the Moon
• Moon Ice For LEO to GEO Transfers Orders of magnitude lower cost for rocket propellant if lunar ice is present
• Homesteading the Planets with Local Materials
• Rincon, Paul (22 January 2013). "New venture 'to mine asteroids'". BBC News .
• In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) Capabilities nasa.gov