Skip to content

ESDMD #0701: Packing, Transport, and Use of Conditioned Supplies and Commodities

Logistics carriers that keep supplies and commodities thermally and pressure-stable and are light, interoperable, reusable, and movable by robots or crew: soft and rigid carriers, pallets, power and automated asset tracking (bin 3, rating 23 of 57). Heritage is Apollo equipment carriers and ISS cargo systems. It is named in the Moon Base Users Guide (near-term), for logistics (Tech gaps spreadsheet, ESDMD #0701; Users Guide, pp. 12–13).

Quotations below are from row ESDMD #0701 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, âś“ included (ADD Rev C, p. 234).

Description

"Capability to package and maintain environmentally conditioned supplies and commodities is lacking. Logistics systems for supplies and commodities should be low overhead mass, interoperable with surface elements, human-robotic compatible, transportable by robotic assets and/or crew, thermally and pressure stable, recyclable, and reusable. An efficient system solution may include soft-sided and rigid carriers, crew portable and other mated carriers, pallets, power systems, automated asset tracking, etc."

Impacts and benefits: "With gap closure, the benefit is the more reliable and efficient point-to-point delivery of supplies and commodities. Maximize survivability of supplies and commodities with ability to expand coverage and flexibility to improve supportability and achievement of overall mission objectives."

Current state of the art

"Apollo equipment carriers. ISS extravehicular robotics experience (e.g., SPDM). ISS systems for pressurized cargo (e.g., CTB, ZSR, fluid bags)."

Performance target

  • Moon/Mars: "Minimize logistics footprint, system mass, crew handling, and delivery time. Maximize reuse and interoperability."
  • Mars: "In addition, increased efficiency compared to the lunar performance target."

Child gaps

  • 0701-01: Payload handling, manipulation, and transport
  • 0701-02: Large payload/logistics transfer into pressurized volume
  • 0701-03: Uncrewed robotic logistics management

Traceability

  • Use cases and functions: UC-L-201 L -- FN-L-201 L; UC-H-102 M -- FN-H-104 M; UC-H-103 M -- FN-H-108 M
  • Definition tasks: Moon: âś“LD-102 Lunar Logistics Strategy. Mars: Logistics Carrier and Interface Strategy. The âś“ is printed in the sheet; the ADD's gap tables say "“✓” indicates completed definition task" (ADD Rev C, p. 204). The decision: "a hybrid strategy for delivering required logistics to elements on the lunar surface using a variety of solutions ranging from small portable carriers to large mated carriers" (p. 75; Key definition tasks)
  • Cross-reference: FN-L-201 L, "Transfer pressurized cargo into habitable assets on the lunar surface", is also one of the Users Guide's Phase 1 functional gaps (Users Guide, p. 9; see Phase 1 functional gaps). This link joins the two sources; neither makes it.

Segments and sub-architectures

Priority

Priority bin 3, overall prioritization rating 23 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 #0701 for the associated challenge "Moving logistics": "Manipulating and transferring lunar surface logistics requires robotic systems for off loading and manipulating payloads, as well as long duration packaging systems for protecting cargo" (Users Guide, pp. 12–13). 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.

Sources

Tech gaps spreadsheet, ESDMD #0701 · ADD Rev C, pp. 75, 78, 199, 204, 234 · Users Guide, pp. 9, 12–13