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Colluding with Reality: The Path to Making

In Situ Resource Utilization Happen�Anastasia Ford

ISDC 2023

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In situ resource utilization is the practice of collection, processing, storing and use of materials found or manufactured on other astronomical objects that replace materials that would otherwise be brought from Earth.

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DUST IS DIFFICULT

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NASA JSC’s Lunar Development and Test Facility at the Energy Systems Test Area

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbK8GR7vWc I

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Visible ejecta plume ~20 seconds after impact

LCROSS Lunar Impact (artist concept)

Why Return to the Moon?

1976 Luna-24 sample analysis showed ~0.1% water by mass
1994 Clementine spacecraft indicated water ice at poles
1998 Lunar Prospector detected H₂ using a neutron spectrometer and estimated 300 million MT water ice
2008 Chandrayaan-1 estimates 600 million MT
2008 analysis of Apollo samples indicated presence of water
2009 LRO and LCROSS provided definitive proof ^[1]:

Slammed centaur upper stage (from LRO) into Cabeus crater
Permanently Shadowed Region (PSR) estimated at 5.6 ± 2.9% (mass) water content

2020 NASA Technology Taxonomy^[2] and Lunar Surface Innovation Initiative (LSII) team identified capability gaps in icy regolith transfer and reactor processing

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Lunar Auger Dryer ISRU Testing

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Lunar Auger Dryer ISRU Breadboard Capability Video

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Carbothermal Reduction Demonstration

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Thank you!

Carbothermal Reduction Demonstration (CaRD) test team in front of the vacuum chamber used to conduct the test. From left: Bill Heausler (JSC), Bill Holton (JSC), Matt Green (JSC), Maggie Meller (JSC), Wayne Smith (JSC), Desmond O’Connor (JSC), Todd Peters (JSC), John Lauterbach (JSC), Anastasia Ford (JSC), Janine Captain (KSC), Te’Sean Pemberton (JSC), Aaron Paz (JSC), David Rinderknecht (KSC), Jeff Michel (JSC), Malay Shah (KSC), Mike Reddington (JSC), Nilab Azim (KSC)