Space Resource

1. Mass and cost reduction

2. Reduced emissions

3. Space commercialisation      

4. Risk reduction & Flexibility

5. Human Presence

1. Reduce risk for failures in launchs from earth

2. Minimizing mission risk from transportation delays and failures

3. Failures recovery: hardware repair

4. Enable long term stay

5. Adjusting to changing needs during the mission                      

ISCP: In-Situ Consumable Production    

ISPP: In-Situ Propellent Production

ISFR: In-Situ Fabrication and Repair 

In-Situ Resource Utilization will enable the affordable establishment of extraterrestrial exploration and operations by minimizing the materials carried from Earth and by developing advanced, autonomous devices to optimize the benefits of available in-situ resources.

20-40%

In-Situ-Availability:

1. Atmosphere 2.Regolith   

Resource-Demand:

1. Human: Water, Oxygen, Nutrition,Sunlight

2. Rocket: Propellent

3. Machines: Spare part-3% of ISS total mass

4. Building: Structures, Shielding, Pads 

Utilization-Products: Consumables, propellent, spare parts

1. Lunar surface: for return capability

2. EML1: staging and refuelling spacecraft for Mars departure (Earth-EML1 = 13.3 km/s vs. Moon-EML1 = 3.2 km/s)

3. LEO: refuelling the upper stage to travel to beyond GEO (Earth-LEO = 9.5 km/s vs. Moon-LEO = 7.0 km/s)

1. Vaccum

2. Gravity

3. Illumination

4. Temperature

5. Radiation

6. Impacts

7. Dust

No oxygen——Life support system

Pressure difference——pressure suit, reinforced structures  

No convection——Highly variable thermal stress

Material outgassing——Degradation, damage

No atmospheric drag——Meteoroid bombardment

1. The air in lungs are sucked out

2. Blood boil off-Oxygen stop transport to brain

3. Local freezing due to cooling effcet of sublimation

Earth: 1013mbar Mars: 6mbar Moon and others: ultra high vacuum 

Reduced contact to ground——reduced traction and control, risk of bounding off

Increased dust aggregation——compromised vision, increased contamination

Different fluid behavior——bubble growth/detachment, reduced convection

Limited power supply——Power storage, other power source

Reduced radiation intensity

Extreme temperature gradient——thermal stress

Psycholohical issue

Temporal gradient——thermal stress

Extreme values——enhanced outgassing, increased power demand

1. High energy galactic cosmic rays (85% protons, 14% alpha particles)

2. Solar particle event.

DNA and cell damage——increased chance of cancer

Jamming/ damage of eletronics——computer errors  

Regions of trapped high-energy particles around the Earth

Inner belt: 0.2-2 R_E (protons)              

Outer belt: 3-10 R_E(protons and electrons, highest intensity 4-5 R)    

1. Total ionising dose

2. Single Event effects: transient, upset, latchup

1. Timing of the mission  

2. Careful planning of trajetory  

3. Shielding:(Al)    

4. Radiation hardening:

   -by architecture: redundancy        

   -by design: triple modular redundancy

   -by process: employ specific material

Particle impacts——Mechanical damage

Secondary impacts——Dust accumulation

1. NASA: Meteoroid Environment Office

2. ESA: LUMIO mission 

1. Monolithic

2. Whipple

3. Stuffed Whipple

4. Multi-shock

5. Double mesh bumper

6. Honeycom panel

7. Foam panel

8. Transhab(Prototype for Mars Hab)

Inhalation of respirable fines——Toxic, cause cancer

Skin exposure——allergic response

Abrasion and wear——decrease of lifetime

Levitated dust AND Scattered sunlight

1. Astronaut walking : dust travels at ballistic trajectory

2. Rover operation: mitigation—fenders on wheels

3. Mining and construction: mitigation—ventilation in mine shaft, wetting broken material, dust collector/filtration

4. Spacecraft landing: mitigation—landing pads, berms, surface reinforcement                        

1. MER Spirit

2. MER Opportunity

3. MSL Curiosity

High emissivity and absorptivity

1. Surface coating that repel the dust

2. Removal of dust   

3. Charged brushes   

For small scale: electrostatic&magnetic cleaning

Large scale: lotus coating, LN2 gas spray

Superficial layer or blanket of loose rock material found on planets.

1. Thin initial layer(rapid growth) <few cm        

2. Large layer of regolith(slow regolith layer growth) >1m

1. Eroded ejecta deposits

2. Ejecta blocks

3. Brecciated bedrocks

4. In-situ bedrocks

1. Comminution 

2. Agglutination 

3. Solar wind implanted particles 

4. Exposure to solar flares and galactic cosmic rays

Irregular-shape, vesicles, branching morphology

Unique on atmosphere-less bodies  

Makes up 60% of mature soil

Contains Fe, H, 3He

1. Soil with solar wind elements is hit by impact

2. Melting(glass) and liberation of gases(vesicles)

3. H reduced FeO in the glass—Fe and H2O(g)

4. Cooling and trapped some gases   

wind: hundred angstroms

flare: mm-cm    

galactic cosmic rays: cm-m

Fe and intensity of ferromagnetic resonance

1. Is/FeO

2. Mean grain size

3. Track density

4. Agglutinate content

5. Contents of solar wind element

6. Depletion of volatiles

7. Presence and degree of isotopic mass fraction

When they tend to saturate or constant.

1. No correlation between the different indices

2. No saturation over time: Is/Fe

1. Degradation of absorption VIS/NIR lines

2. Reduction of overall albedo

3. Reddening of the VIS/NIR spectrums

4. Bluing of NUV spectrum

Critical issue for composition analysis from absorption spectroscopy

Impact ejecta

Reprocessed rocks:  

1. Mineral fragments

2. Pristine crystalline rock fragments

3. Breccia fragments  

Reprocessed soil:

1. Glasses

2. Agglutinates

1. Regolith-derived particles: agglutinates, glasses

2. Bedrock-derived particles: pieces of bedrock, monomict breccia, polymict breccia

A) Basalt   

B) Anorthorsite

C) Breccia

D) Glass

1. Lunar orange soil    

2. Lunar green soil: volcanic glasses, enirched with volatile elements

3. Matian blueberries: Hematite spherules (iron oxide, α-Fe2O3)— required aqueous chemistry involving flow of acid, salty, liquid water

Rocks composed of compressed fine-grained surface material.

1. Specific gravity

2. Porosity

3. Bulk density

Lunar Mare: Basaltic composition

Lunar Highland: Anorthositic composition

A mineral is defined as a solid chemical compound that

(1) occurs naturally,

(2) has a definite chemical composition that varies either not at all or within a specific range,

(3) has a definite ordered arrangement of atoms, and (4) can be mechanically separated from the other minerals in the rock.

1. Silicates are the most abundant lunar material

   -Pyroxene,Plagioclase feldspar, olivine

2. Oxides are the second abundant lunar material

   -Ilmenite, Spinal

1. Ability to mechanically separate the minerals

2. Abundancy

3. Composition

behind ceres.

Every volatile species has its own snow line  

The current snowline of water: 5AU

30%

Using remote sensing observations

Most famous: LROSS and SOFIA

1. Delivery by comets and asteroids

2. SWIP(H reacts with oxygen-bearing minerals)  

3. Outgassing from interior

Comets and asteroids

Aborbed onto grains on surface

Bulk deposits

Trapped in vesicles

1. Seasonal ice cap

2. Residual ice cap

3. Polar layered deposits

4. Basal unit  

ca. 300 ppm

Mariner 4 flyby

Mariner 9 orbiting river-like structure

Viking 2 orbiter and lander, revealing valley networks and surface frost

Phoenix

1. Detection of water in soil

2. Water frost on surface

3. Water-ice clouds

4. Water vapour in atmosphere

5. Hydrogen at pole

1. Geomorphological: gullies, river channel

2. Geological: sedimentary rocks

3. Mineralogical: clay minerals

0.25% water in atmosphere  95 known moons

4 icy moons: Ganymede, Callisto, Europa, Amalthea

Saturn: 146 moons

Uranus: 28 moons, mainly made of ammonia, water and methane ices

Neptune: 16

1. SWIP

2. REE(Rare Earth Element)    

3. PGM(Platinum Group Metal)

1. H 2. HE 3. C, N, O

He/Ne contents are mch higher in ilmenite, because most TiO2 are in ilmenite, He/Ne corelate with TiO2.

Because moon spends a fourth its time in the tail of Earth’s magnetosphere.

1. Concretes: needs no water, corrosion-resistant ,but thermal stability is a concern

2. Sealant: in a mixture with elastomers(currently technically too complex)

3. Fluid: SO2 for refrigerant systems,heat pipe

   (toxic in large amount)

1. Solar wind

2. Volatisation during impact

3. Outgassing and release of CO/CO2

D+T=n+4He       

D+3He=p+4He lower radioactivity, lower risk   

30-40%

Discussion under:

1. Additional power need for mining

2. Risk of radioactive waste

3. Challenges for the reactor in a lunar environment

Group 3 and lanthanides(17 elements)   

Magnets, electronics, catalyst & chemical process

Six noble precious metallic elements with similar physical and chemical properties

•Platinum • Osmium • Iridium

• Ruthenium • Rhodium • Palladium

1. High resistance to wear and tarnish, excellent high-temperature characteristics, high mechanical strength, good ductility, and stable electrical properties

2. Found in catalysts, anticancer drugs, medical implants, dentistry, electronics, jewellery

Not REE but PGM and Cr/Ni

1. Construction

2. Life support

3. Propulsion

4. Power

5. Fabrication

Production: Find—Extract—Processing—product  

Utilisation: Storage—Distribution—Operation—Servicing

Storage: 1. Pressurised container 

2. Temperature requirement

3. Maximum storage time

4. Safety hazards

Distribution: 1.Logistics and types of transportation

2. Infrastructures

3. Prioritisation

4. Access and refuelling stations

Operation: 1. Continous supply 2. Safety hazards

Servicing: 1. Maintainence and repair 2. Spare parts 

Space agencies help with demonstration and proof of concept

Space agencies as anchor customer for publicly funded missions

O2: 0.8kg/d Food: 0.7kg/d Water: 9.8kg/d      

Outer Space Treaty(OST)    

Moon Agreement

1. Ownership right

2. Priority rights to mining claims

3. No interference in mining operation

4. Regulatory clarity without excessive regulation

5. Contamination

Artemis CNSA:CLEP  

NASA: 1. Mapping: PRIME, VIPER 2. Processing: MOXIE

ESA: DPTD, E3P, MREP    

GER: contains 42% ISRU

1. Identification and characterisation resources

2. Demonstrate concepts, technologies and hardware to reduce risk and cost

3. Use the moon as proving ground for validation of long-term missions

4. Develop and evolve ISRU to support human presence beyond Earth orbit

1. Inferred resource

2. Indicated resource

3. Measured resource

Resource: A concentration of minerals in a form and quantity, for which economic extraction is currently or potentially feasible

Reserve: The part of a resource that can be economically and legally extracted under current circumstances

1. Ores: The material that contains economically extractable minerals or metals 

2. Strip ratio: Mass of surface regolith removed per unit mass of regolith ore  

3. Yield: Mass of product produced per mass of feed

4. Recovery: Mass of product produced per mass of product in feed  

1. Rock preparation: Drill, blast     

2. Excavtion: Shovel, backhoe       

3. Hauling:Truck Train      

4. Transfer: dumping, internal transfer, processor       

   
   

1. Underground mining

2. Surface mining

3. Placer

4. In-Situ

1. Unsupported: Room and pillar, stoping  

2. Supported:Cut and fill

3. Caving: Block caving, sublevel caving  

1. Strip-mining

2. Open-pit mining   

1. Excavate natural regolith, no rock preparation

2. Integrate unit operations:Excavator and hauling combined

3. Processer in a fixed location

1. High degree autonomy needed

2. Limited energy resource

3. Missing navigation

4. Need for maintainence and repair

5. Dust evolution and dust resiliance

6. Temperature gradient

1. Stabilization(de-spin) E.g. WRANGLER     

2. Moving to moon or Earth orbit:

   -For Earth: target PGM  

   -for moon: target water

APIS

1. Hauler: horizontal long distance        

2. Belt: horizontal short distance

3. Auger: vertical short

4. Hopper: for transport point  

Mass

Power

Feed rate

TRL

Mobility

Robustness

Dust risk

Lunar gravity

Beneficiation is the concentration of a specific component of a mineral feedstock.

PGM: 5g/t  

Cu: 5kg/t

Magnetic: Fe  

Electrostatic: Ti

Surface chemistry: Cu  

Specific minerals: Ilmenite, Anorthosite, Iron-bearing minerals

Specific particles: Agglutinates, pyroclastic glass beads       

Physical properties:

1. Size and shape

2. Magnetic

3. Electrostatic

4. Conductivity

5. density  

92%<1mm

50%<72um

23%<20um

Average 70um

1. Size separation

2. Method of concentrating specific mineral and component

1. Technical-beneficiation of fine dry heterogeneous granular material does not exist currently on Earth

1. System-requirements for beneficiation systems are unspecified.

1. Enhance minerals concentration

2. Improve economic viability

3. Reduce amount of waste product

1. Accessibility of feedstock

2. Energy sources

3. Thermal properties of feedstok

4. Reactor design

5. Product gas capture

6. Product purification

1. Reasonable melting point

2. High electrical conductivity

3. Large electrochemeical window

4. High regolith solubility

5. Low cost

1. Wrapping

2. Layer separation

3. Porosity

4. Residual stresses

5. Incomplete melting

6. surface roughness