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Lunar Ice, Characterization, Extraction, and Processing
Peter Carrato
Bechtel Fellow Emeritus
David Meadows
Bechtel Fellow, Bechtel Mining and Metals
Keith Churchill
Bechtel Group
Gerald Sanders
In Situ Resource Utilization Team, NASA
Julie Kleinhenz
NASA
ABSTRACT: Lunar ice is the most valuable recoverable resource identified on the Moon. Billions of kilograms of
water ice are to be found at the lunar south pole.1 Pure water will find a number of uses on the Moon. Sustaining
human existence by providing drinking water, and when dissociated into hydrogen and oxygen, providing a key
component for a breathable atmosphere, are two key uses. Although there will be many industrial/commercial
needs for water and/or its component elements, production of liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen to serves
as rocket fuel will probably require the greatest quantity of water, well in excess of that required to sustain a
reasonable human presence on the Moon.
The use of liquid oxygen (LOX) and liquid hydrogen (LH2) as rocket fuel has a long and successful history.
For example, the second and third stages of Saturn V booster that was the work horse of the Apollo missions
were fueled by LOX/LH2. Having rocket fuel available outside of the Earth’s gravity well is economically very
attractive. It is estimated that commercial cis-lunar transportation will require as much as two million kilograms
of oxygen per year.2 That is roughly two and a half million kilograms of water per year to be extracted and
processed.
WATER ICE ON THE MOON:
Scientists have postulated the presence of water ice on
the Moon since the 1960s.3 The Clementine spacecraft4
launched in January 1994, captured images of the lunar
surface including the polar regions. In 1996, the United
States Department of Defense announced5 that data from
Clementine indicated the presence of ice at the bottom of
permanently shadowed regions (craters) located near the
Moon’s south pole.
India launched its first lunar mission, Chandrayaan-1,6
in October of 2008. Chandrayaan’s Moon Impact Probe
(MIP) landed near the Shackleton crater at the lunar south
pole. MIP instruments detected the presence of water in
the lunar soil shortly before impact. This discovery was
Lunar Ice, Characterization, Extraction, and Processing
Peter Carrato
Bechtel Fellow Emeritus
David Meadows
Bechtel Fellow, Bechtel Mining and Metals
Keith Churchill
Bechtel Group
Gerald Sanders
In Situ Resource Utilization Team, NASA
Julie Kleinhenz
NASA
ABSTRACT: Lunar ice is the most valuable recoverable resource identified on the Moon. Billions of kilograms of
water ice are to be found at the lunar south pole.1 Pure water will find a number of uses on the Moon. Sustaining
human existence by providing drinking water, and when dissociated into hydrogen and oxygen, providing a key
component for a breathable atmosphere, are two key uses. Although there will be many industrial/commercial
needs for water and/or its component elements, production of liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen to serves
as rocket fuel will probably require the greatest quantity of water, well in excess of that required to sustain a
reasonable human presence on the Moon.
The use of liquid oxygen (LOX) and liquid hydrogen (LH2) as rocket fuel has a long and successful history.
For example, the second and third stages of Saturn V booster that was the work horse of the Apollo missions
were fueled by LOX/LH2. Having rocket fuel available outside of the Earth’s gravity well is economically very
attractive. It is estimated that commercial cis-lunar transportation will require as much as two million kilograms
of oxygen per year.2 That is roughly two and a half million kilograms of water per year to be extracted and
processed.
WATER ICE ON THE MOON:
Scientists have postulated the presence of water ice on
the Moon since the 1960s.3 The Clementine spacecraft4
launched in January 1994, captured images of the lunar
surface including the polar regions. In 1996, the United
States Department of Defense announced5 that data from
Clementine indicated the presence of ice at the bottom of
permanently shadowed regions (craters) located near the
Moon’s south pole.
India launched its first lunar mission, Chandrayaan-1,6
in October of 2008. Chandrayaan’s Moon Impact Probe
(MIP) landed near the Shackleton crater at the lunar south
pole. MIP instruments detected the presence of water in
the lunar soil shortly before impact. This discovery was