Mining and manufacturing on the Moon

NASA has selected the geology team for the Artemis III moon flight, the first crewed lunar landing mission since the Apollo missions over 50 years ago. The astrogeology team will help plan geological investigations for the Artemis crew, which includes the first woman, first man of color, and first Canadian on a moon mission.

Led by Brett Denevi of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab in Maryland, the Artemis III geology team is working with NASA to determine the mission's geological science objectives and develop the surface campaign that the astronauts will carry out.

Supported activities will include moonwalks for field geology observations, the collection of samples, imagery, and scientific measurements. Real-time documentation and initial assessment of scientific data during astronaut lunar operations will be supported by the team at home, who will later evaluate data and samples returned by the mission.

"Selecting this team marks an important step in our efforts to optimize the science return of Artemis III. This team of well-respected lunar scientists has demonstrated experience with science operations, sample analysis, and operational flexibility, all of which is critical for the successful incorporation of science during Artemis III," said Joel Kearns, deputy associate administrator for exploration in NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. "With the establishment of the Artemis III Geology Team, we are ensuring that NASA will build a strong lunar science program."

The collection of samples and data from the lunar south pole, which contains material estimated to be at least 3.85 billion years old, could provide important information about the depth, distribution, and composition of ice there. This information is valuable from both scientific and resource perspectives.

Teaming up

Artemis III will use a SpaceX vehicle (projected for 2025) to land astronauts near the lunar South Pole to advance scientific discovery and pave the way for long-term lunar surface exploration. As the Artemis Program continues to develop, so too do long-term plans by private industry.

NASA has been engaging industry and non-aerospace talent to help develop a long-term vision for In-situ resource utilization (ISRU), flagging knowledge gaps in lunar science and the technologies still required.

At the 23rd Space Resources Roundtable, held in June at the Colorado School of Mines, some 250 participants spoke on lunar economic models policy and legality issues. A number of entrepreneurial groups shared strategies to explore the moon as a potential setting for various industries.

ISRU involves the extraction of oxygen, hydrogen, water, metals and other available materials for developing rocket fuel and life-support systems, fabricating lunar housing, landing pads, and other structures – even products for use back on Earth.

"There is also the international pressure to do this," said Angel Abbud-Madrid, director of the Center for Space Resources at the Colorado School of Mines. "And that's going to keep the program pushing forward. It's the competition, that's the reality."

Abbud-Madrid added that the private sector is also a major force today. He underscored NASA's work with U.S. companies through the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program developing vehicles and technology for transport onto and off the lunar landscape.

CLPS missions will help develop techniques in coping with the lunar regolith, a dusty top layer of rock and rubble, as simulations limit comprehensive stress testing of off-world machinery-on the Moon there are additional hurdles such as electrostatic charges, radiation, superfine dust, one-sixth gravity and vacuum.

"Let's go and interact with it. I think that's going to be key for anything you want to do, be it for extraction, construction, collection, you name it," Abbud-Madrid said.

Mastering techniques and technology on Earth and through pilot programs on the Moon before mission-critical hardware is flown up and installed could save time and money, always in short supply for NASA.

"ISRU starts with the easiest resources to mine, requiring the minimum infrastructure, and providing immediate local usage," said Gerald Sanders, lead for NASA's In-Space Resource Utilization Capability Leadership Team at Johnson Space Center. ISRU "will evolve to other locations, more specific minerals, more refined products, and delivery to other destinations."

Lunar industries

Ben Bussey is chief scientist at Intuitive Machines, a lunar services company in NASA's CLPS initiative for transporting payloads to the moon's surface using the group's Nova-C lander. The craft's own maiden voyage to the lunar south pole is targeted for liftoff by year's end.

Intuitive Machines has also developed a drone called Micro Nova, which can conduct regional exploration after it is delivered to the lunar surface. Micro Nova is designed to visit locales difficult for a rover to access, quickly and easily exploring impact craters, permanently shadowed regions, etc.

Bussey is an expert on prospective water ice within permanently shadowed lunar craters, such as those at the moon's south pole. But there is a cost to determine in prospecting, extracting and refining it, before a reserve can be considered profitable. "Reserve means that not only is that resource there, but you are able to extract it economically," he said.

Bussey favors an experiment akin to the Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment, better known as MOXIE.

MOXIE's equipment rests in the underbelly of NASA's Perseverance rover, drawing in the carbon dioxide-rich Martian atmosphere and releasing oxygen.

"I would love someone to extract a liter of water from the lunar regolith. Show that you can do it. How hard is that to do? Then we can start to talk about it as a reserve," Bussey said. "You can't factor in using ISRU in a critical path until it has been demonstrated."