New capabilities, technologies and infrastructure must be developed to enable a sustained human presence on the moon and beyond. The key to having this permanent presence is the utilization of in situ resources. To this end, NASA is investigating how in situ resources can be utilized to improve mission success by reducing up-mass, improving safety, reducing risk, and bringing down costs for the overall mission. To ensure that this capability is available when needed, technology development is required now. NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) is supporting this endeavor, along with other NASA centers, by exploring how lunar regolith can be mined for uses such as construction, life support, propulsion, power, and fabrication. Efforts at MSFC include development of lunar regolith simulant for hardware testing and development, extraction of oxygen and other materials from the lunar regolith, production of parts and tools on the moon from local materials or from provisioned feedstocks, and capabilities to show that produced parts are "ready for use". This paper discusses the lunar regolith, how the regolith is being replicated in the development of simulants and possible uses of the regolith.


    Access

    Access via TIB

    Check availability in my library


    Export, share and cite



    Title :

    Sustainable Human Presence on the Moon using In Situ Resources



    Conference:

    Space 2008 Conference ; 2008 ; San Diego, CA, United States


    Publication date :

    2008-09-09


    Type of media :

    Conference paper


    Type of material :

    No indication


    Language :

    English




    Sustainable Human Presence on the Moon Using in Situ Resources

    McLemore, Carole / Fikes, John / McCarley, Kevin et al. | AIAA | 2008


    Sustainable Human Presence on the Moon Using in Situ Resources

    McLemore, C. / Fikes, J. / McCarley, K. et al. | British Library Conference Proceedings | 2008



    Generating and storing power on the moon using in situ resources

    Ellery, Alex | SAGE Publications | 2022

    Free access

    Deep Space Habitation: Establishing a Sustainable Human Presence on the Moon and Beyond

    Flores, Ginger / Harris, Danny / McCauley, Rachel et al. | IEEE | 2021