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ESDMD #0604: Metal Extraction from Lunar Regolith

Extracting metals from lunar regolith as manufacturing feedstock, matured enough for a lunar demonstration (bin 6, rating 56 of 57). The state of the art is lab proof of concept at TRL 4, "short durations and small quantities". The production target is still a "TBR kg class". It is named in the Moon Base Users Guide (near-term), under the "ISRU systems" challenge (Tech gaps spreadsheet, ESDMD #0604; Users Guide, p. 13).

Quotations below are from row ESDMD #0604 of the tech gaps spreadsheet unless marked otherwise. ADD Rev C's Appendix D prints the same table for this gap, and it matches the row field for field (ADD Rev C, p. 231).

Description

"Metals for manufacturing feedstock have been identified as a potential target to support sustained lunar presence through in-situ resource utilization (ISRU). Technologies for lunar demo of extraction of metals from regolith require maturation to enable the lunar demo. Experience gained from the demonstration should feed into manufacturing of articles/equipment/spare parts from the feedstock."

Impacts and benefits: "Without gap closure, metal extraction demonstrations may not be able to use scalable techniques for potential growth of ISRU in future campaign segments. With gap closure, in-situ sourced metals could benefit future missions through reduction of delivered mass."

Current state of the art

"Proof of concept type lab operations (TRL 4); short durations and small quantities."

Performance target

Moon: "Enable the acquisition, processing, storage and transfer of usable ISRU-generated products in the TBR kg class at the Moon in a scalable manner."

Child gaps

  • 0604-01: Sensors for monitoring of ISRU processes for metal extraction
  • 0604-02: ISRU system modeling for metal extraction
  • 0601-01*: Preprocessing of granular regolith for ISRU
  • 0601-03*: Regolith-tolerant components for long-duration ISRU processes

The two starred child gaps belong to #0601, oxygen extraction, and are shared here. The asterisk marks "a child gap with multiple parents" (ADD Rev C, p. 199).

Traceability

  • Use cases and functions: UC-I-106 L -- All FN
  • Definition tasks: none listed

Segments and sub-architectures

Priority

Priority bin 6, overall prioritization rating 56 of 57. The rating is "the gap's location in the prioritized list of gaps", so 1 is the highest priority, and bins group gaps of similar priority, bin 1 highest. Criticality, urgency, breadth and depth set the order; cost is not considered (ADD Rev C, pp. 78, 199; method on the gaps index).

Moon Base relevance

The Users Guide names #0604 for one associated challenge (Users Guide, p. 13):

  • "ISRU systems": "Using local lunar resources to enable exploration requires both detailed knowledge of resource availability and systems to extract and process those resources." Also cited: tech gaps #0601, #0603 and #0605, and data gaps DN-006 L and DN-007 L.

The guide ties its challenges to "near-term Moon Base development efforts": missions in phase one "offer opportunities to collect data and mature technologies to enable essential phase two and phase three capabilities" (p. 11). See Technology and knowledge challenges.

ISRU in the Ignition material (the pairing is the wiki's; the deck names no gap). The Moon Base Program's Ignition deck has ISRU as a Phase 3 key mission: "Phase 1 & 2 experiment & demo"; "Phase 3 continue demo and begin implementation"; "Key commodities from regolith: Oxygen, water, rare Earth elements, hydrogen" (slide 35) (Ignition deck 2, slide 35). It doesn't mention metals or manufacturing feedstock. "Rare Earth elements" is the nearest of its four commodities to this gap's subject; setting them side by side is the wiki's reading. The ISRU line by phase is on Phases.

Sources

Tech gaps spreadsheet, ESDMD #0604 · ADD Rev C, pp. 78, 199, 231 · Users Guide, p. 13 · Ignition deck 2, slide 35