Production of Lunar Oxygen, Iron, Magnesium, and Silicon by Aqueous Hydrofluoric Acid Leaching
Aqueous hydrofluoric acid (HF) processing of lunar regolith offers the versatile options of lunar iron and oxygen production by room temperature electrolysis as well as the extraction...
Materials and Structures Synergistic with In-Space Materials Utilization
The objective of this paper is to clearly demonstrate the significant advances made in recent months toward actual hardware realizations of various concepts for the utilization of in-space...
Lunar Liquid Oxygen Production Facilities
Production of oxygen beyond Earth's gravity well has been shown to be an economic asset for interplanetary travel using chemical combustion propulsion. Requirements for lunar liquid oxygen...
Power Sources for Lunar Bases
Working and living on the Moon requires artificial power sources both to operate equipment and to maintain life. This paper briefly surveys the power sources designed or proposed to support...
INTERLUNE Concept for Helium-3 Fusion Development
Many considerations suggest that in the 21st Century, deuterium/helium-3 (D-3He) fusion will be the electricity generation system of choice to replace...
On-Orbit Chipless Cutting and Tube Welding in Space Station Freedom
Micro-gravity and strict environmental constraints of the laboratory, Habitation and other manned structures which comprise Space Station Freedom demand investigation into innovative processes...
Structural Studies of Two Aerobrake Heatshield Panel Concepts
Structural sizing and performance data are presented for two different aerobrake hexagonal heatshield panel structural concepts. One concept features a sandwich construction with an aluminum...
Cargo Transport to the Lunar Surface Using a Three Rotor Sling
The three rotor sling, a momentum transfer device, is described. The dynamics of multi-rotor systems are explained, and the three rotor system is shown to be favored over one and two rotor...
A Methodology for Development of Spaced-Based Assembly Operations
Designing and constructing a large space-based science facility requires the integration of constraints and design variables with assembly operations. Development of such a facility requires...
Beneficiation of Lunar Rocks and Regolith: Concepts and Difficulties
Considerations of the resources which can provide feedstocks of ilmenite, glass, agglutinates, anorthite, etc. at a lunar base require an appreciation of the geology of the situation....
Mobile Continuous Lunar Excavation
The purpose of this paper is to explore the two main problems regarding current approaches to lunar mining and to recommend three candidate solutions which will be shown to have potentially...
Lunar He-3 Mining: Improvements on the Design of the UW Mark II Lunar Miner
One of the minor consituents of the solar wind which has been implanted in the lunar regolith over its several billion year history, is helium 3 (He-3), a rare isotope of helium which...
Ropeway Material Handling Systems for Lunar Mining Sites
The establishment of permanent lunar sites will be a requirement for future space explorations during early missions into space as well as long term. During all stages it will be necessary...
On the Beneficiation and Comminution of Lunar Regolith
A major concern in the area of planning for future lunar missions and for establishing a lunar base is the selection of a chemical process for liberation of oxygen from lunar regolith...
Transfer of Terrestrial Technology for Lunar Mining
Terrestrial mining equipment was evaluated for development of concepts and their application to lunar-based mining operations. The major operational differences between terrestrial and...
Spiral Mining for Lunar Volatiles
Lunar spiral mining, extending outward from a periodically mobile central power and processing station represents an alternative for comparison with more traditional mining schemes. In...
Preliminary Design of an Underground Lunar Mine
This paper presents a mining engineering viewpoint on the design and construction of an underground lunar mine. Upon completion, the facility will serve as a lunar habitat. Ore removed...
Design Criteria for an Underground Lunar Mine
Underground excavation and construction techniques have been well developed terrestrially and provide an attractive option for lunar mining and habitat construction. The lunar mine, processing...
Sintering of Lunar Glass and Basalt
Sintering of the regolith has been proposed as a method for producing construction materials from local resources at a lunar base. Applications for lunar 'bricks' include road beds, foundations,...
Strength and Fracture of Glass in the Lunar Environment
Due to the lack of water on the moon, the effects of hydrolytic depolymerization - stress corrosion cracking - will be nonexistent in glasses produced and used on the moon. This would...
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