This is a working document Outlining the entire Lunar Homestead In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) process. From raw, untouched Lunar regolith and mega-regolith to refined materials ready to be used. I’m not going to include anything that LH wouldn’t use (like huge surface strip mines).
This is a work in progress and I will be adding to it constantly.
Resource extraction and processing
- Starts with untouched regolith and mega-regolith
- Regolith – Needs more data
- Mega-regolith – Needs more data
- Basalt – Needs more data
- Agglutinates – Needs more data
- Ilmenite – Needs more data
- Olivine – Needs more data
- Pyroxene – Needs more data
- Spinel – Needs more data
- Troilite – Needs more data
- Armalcolite – Needs more data
- SPORE Apollo 12 Regolith and Mega-Regolith Characterization
- Extracting the regolith and mega-regolith
- SPORE
- SPORE Project Outline
- Overcoming Lunar gravity for SPORE excavation activities
- Magnetic locked boots
- Mechanical locked boots
- Add iron weights to waist/legs/boots to add overall mass
- Dust control
- Water spray
- Atmosphere (oxygen) circulation
- Electrostatic
- Dig deeper (get away from regolith dust)
- Tools
- Manual hand tools
- Electric hand tools
- Pneumatic hand tools
- SPORE
- Moving the regolith and mega-regolith from the extraction site to the processing equipment
- Tools
- Manual tools
- Bucket
- Hand truck
- Electric tools
- Pneumatic tools
- Manual tools
- Tools
- Physical processing of extracted regolith and mega-regolith
- Crushing
- Particle size separation
- Electro-static – fine dust
- Mechanical (sieves)
- Vibration
- Fine dust removal – hazardous to people and machines
- Fine dust may have a higher concentration of adsorbed volatiles
- Benefication
- Magnetic
- Electro-static
- Glass – nanoparticles of iron are in glass agglutinates
- Volatile extraction
- Heat
- Distillation
- Types of volatiles
- Water
- Hydrogen
- Carbon
- Nitrogen
- Chemical processing of powdered regolith and mega-regolith to produce refined materials
- Ends with refined raw materials in a usable form
- Melted or hot basalt
- Oxygen
- Iron
- Aluminum
- Silicon
- Titanium
- Resource storage
Fabrication
- Starts with refined raw materials
- Fabricate Pressure Hull Components
- Ends with finished “stuff”
- Structural components
- Iron-Basalt Pressure Hull Components
- Iron Pressure Hull Components
- Basalt Pressure Hull Components
- Tools
- Parts
- Furniture
- Structural components