Lunar Precursor Robotic Mission for Technological Demonstration of In-Situ Oxygen Production
- Paper number
IAC-08.A3.2.INT5
- Author
Mr. Marco Grasso, Politecnico di Milano, Italy
- Coauthor
Dr. Michèle Lavagna, Politecnico di Milano, Italy
- Coauthor
Dr. Alberto Della Torre, Carlo Gavazzi Space, Italy
- Coauthor
Dr. Igor Vukman, Carlo Gavazzi Space, Italy
- Coauthor
Mr. Emanuele Monchieri, Carlo Gavazzi Space S.p.A., Italy
- Year
2008
- Abstract
The acquisition, development and consolidation of In Situ Resources Utilization (ISRU) technologies represent a key issue for the achievement of the challenging objectives of main space agencies as far as robotic and human exploration of the Solar System is concerned, and hence dedicated precursor technological demonstration missions are expected to play a key role in space exploration/exploitation roadmaps. The paper discusses PRIDE (Precursor Robotic Isru DEmo rover), a small lunar surface vehicle aimed at testing those technologies on the Moon. PRIDE is one of the results of the cooperation between the Aerospace Department of Politecnico di Milano and Carlo Gavazzi Space regarding ISRU R&D field, within the ESA on going study on Space Exploration Architectures. It is an automated rover equipped with a 80kg plant to produce about 5kg of oxygen per month by means of a carbothermal reduction process [1][2][3]. The rover is provided with a robotic arm to scoop the lunar soil and collect about 1kg of regolith per day. The collected regolith is sieved and beneficiated in a dedicated module before entering the chemical reactor. A methane feedstock is exploited to reduce the pyroxene and olivine minerals; carbon monoxide is then separated from the other products and reduced with hydrogen in a catalytic reactor to produce water and some amount of methane that can be re-inserted into the loop. Water is eventually electrolyzed and oxygen gas is obtained, while all the hydrogen not used to form methane molecules is recovered and reused. A sensors package analyses the oxygen produced and monitors the different steps of the process. As mentioned, the plant is mounted on a wheeled mobile platform to allow the element to collect regolith feeds in different sites, and possibly with different properties. The vehicle is thus capable of autonomously traverse the lunar surface, being equipped with navigation and hazard avoidance cameras, together with an Inertial Measurement Unit, wheel encoders and proximity sensors. The baseline duration of the in-situ mission is three months (a total amount of 15kg of oxygen is expected to be produced), and the selected lunar site is a quasi permanently illuminated area at the South Pole – the Malapert mountain -, as this region is one of the most attractive for potential future human and/or robotic settlements development of the Moon. The paper focuses its attention on the PRIDE architecture, design, and budgets, together with an analysis of in-situ operations management. [1] Rosenberg S.D., Reed L.R., “Lunar propellant manufacture and its economic benefits for space transportation”, 42nd IAF Congress, Montreal, Canada, paper IAA-91-637, 1991 [2] M.Grasso, M.Lavagna, “Planetary ISRU and LCSS simulators to support complex plants design and testing”, DLGR International Symposium “To Moon and Beyond”, Bremen, March 2007. [3] E.Vallerani, G.G.Ori, A.Della Torre, M.Grasso, G.P.Guizzo, I.Vukman, “ISRU: perspectives for lunar development”, 57° International Astronautical Congress (IAC), Valencia, Spain, September 2006.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
IAC-08.A3.2.INT5.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).
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