2004-2005 Lunar ISRU University Design Competition

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2004-2005 Lunar ISRU University Design Competition

• Faculty Advisors
• Dr. Jim Mantovani
• Dr. Hamid K. Rassoul
• Faculty Consultant
• Dr. Samuel T. Durrance

Presenter Jayme Poppin
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Subgroups

• Analysis
• Excavation and Delivery
• Concepts
• Public Relations

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Design Requirements

• Constraints
• The rover will land in a shadowed crater
  containing water ice.
• Max mass 50kg
• Max power 100W
• Mission will remain active on moon for one month.
• Information obtained from
• http//www.fsgc.engr.ucf.edu/isru/what.html

• Tasks
• Excavator arm must collect regolith up to one
  meter below surface.
• Must move regolith from arm to reaction chamber.
• Collect up to 100kg by end of mission.
• System must gather data on regolith such as
  shear, yield, compaction.

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The South Pole

• Left side, top orthographic projections focusing
  on the southern pole of the moon.
  http//solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/gallery/Aik
  en_Maps.jpg
• Right side, top Topographic view of South Aitken
  Basin. http//solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/gall
  ery/Aitken_Basin.jpg
• Right side, bottom Snapshot of the very southern
  tip of the moon taken by the Clementine
  spacecraft. http//antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image
  /lunarsp_clem.gif

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SG5-UT Arm Accessories

• CrustCrawler
• 5-axis design
• Programmable electronics

• Sensors
• Grip
• Possible add-ons

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A Basic Introduction to Molten Silicate
Electrolysis

• Advantages
• high concentration of silicates in the lunar
  regolith (45)
• relatively high efficiency
• ease of separation of oxygen from byproducts
  (just melt it, and then electrolyze it!)
• Disadvantages
• high temperatures (power) required for reaction
  to take place

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General analysis procedure outline

• Sifting
• Conductivity separation chamber
• Reaction chamber
• Oxygen Separation
• Oxygen Analyzer
• Oxygen collection chamber

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Conductivity separation chamber

• The idea behind it
• O2 soil
• 700oC to increase
• conductivity
• Due to heating, gases mostly H2, H2O, CF4 (from
  solar wind, etc) that are in lunar soil are
  liberated

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Reaction chamber / Insulation

• The idea behind it
• Process
• Insulation
• Heat loss

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Oxygen separation chamber

• The idea behind it
• Along with O2, other gases escape our reaction
  chamber
• It uses membranes that are selectively permeable
  to O2

Cerametic Inc. Ion Transport Membrane Cost
10,000
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Gas analyzers

• The idea behind it
• Efficiency
• Percent O2
• Possible loss of O2

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CONCEPTS

• Modes
• Transit
• Calibration
• Acquiring Regolith
• Analysis
• Standby
• Timeline
• Scenarios
• The Glue

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Public Relations

• Outreach
• Published Articles
• Presentations
• Video
• Website
• http//www.astro.fit.edu/isru/index.html

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Questions?