XXXI International Mineral Processing Congress 2024 Proceedings/Washington, DC/Sep 29–Oct 3 335
region will be exposed to warmer lunar surface daytime
temperatures that range from 190 K to almost 400 K
depending on latitude. At these higher temperatures, if the
ore is not contained in a pressure tight container, the water
will sublime from a solid to vapor state and be lost to space.
SURFACE MINING
Lunar mining operations will be remotely operated either
by teleoperations or autonomously or a combination of
both types of control. A mine with a permanent human
staff is not practical. Surface mining performed by robots
that drive into the PSR may take a variety of forms. These
robotic systems may consist of a single type of machine that
both excavates the water bearing ore and delivers this mate-
rial to a water processing plant. Water processing plants
may be located either within the PSR or in a more benign
environment outside of the PSR. Alternate robotic systems
consist of multiple types of machines, one that extracts
the ore and another that delivers the ore. All these systems
may be deployed as single pieces of equipment or multiple
robots termed “swarms.” Currently no robotic excavation
equipment has been tested on the Moon.
RASSOR
The most advanced surface mining robot that is under
development is NASA’s Regolith Advanced Surface Systems
Operations Robot18 (RASSOR) Figure 9. The RASSOR is
a bucket wheel type of excavator. It uses drums equipped
with cutter teeth mounted at both the front and rear of the
robot. These drums counter rotate, one rotating clockwise
while the other rotates counterclockwise during excava-
tion. The robot is designed to both excavate and deliver the
extracted material. The drum rotations reverse to empty the
load once they have been filled and delivered to a process-
ing facility. The counter rotation configuration facilitates
operations in reduced gravity such as 1/6th G on the Moon
and micro-gravity on asteroids. By using this bucket drum
configuration, the robot pulls itself down onto the surface
being excavated. If a single rotating drum is used this would
tend to lift the rear portion of the robot and in micro-grav-
ity might end up “launching” the robot off the surface.
Break The Ice Lunar Challenge
NASA is also actively engaged in encouraging innovative
solutions to mining icy regolith on the Moon by hosting
the Break The Ice Lunar Challenge19 (BTIL). BTIL is one
of NASA’s Centennial Challenges, which is the highest level
of public competition hosted by the agency. A total prize
purse of $3.5 million is available to competing teams. BTIL
seeks to incentivize innovative approaches for excavating icy
regolith and delivering acquired resources in extreme lunar
Figure 8. Extraction process
Figure 9. RASSOR excavator
region will be exposed to warmer lunar surface daytime
temperatures that range from 190 K to almost 400 K
depending on latitude. At these higher temperatures, if the
ore is not contained in a pressure tight container, the water
will sublime from a solid to vapor state and be lost to space.
SURFACE MINING
Lunar mining operations will be remotely operated either
by teleoperations or autonomously or a combination of
both types of control. A mine with a permanent human
staff is not practical. Surface mining performed by robots
that drive into the PSR may take a variety of forms. These
robotic systems may consist of a single type of machine that
both excavates the water bearing ore and delivers this mate-
rial to a water processing plant. Water processing plants
may be located either within the PSR or in a more benign
environment outside of the PSR. Alternate robotic systems
consist of multiple types of machines, one that extracts
the ore and another that delivers the ore. All these systems
may be deployed as single pieces of equipment or multiple
robots termed “swarms.” Currently no robotic excavation
equipment has been tested on the Moon.
RASSOR
The most advanced surface mining robot that is under
development is NASA’s Regolith Advanced Surface Systems
Operations Robot18 (RASSOR) Figure 9. The RASSOR is
a bucket wheel type of excavator. It uses drums equipped
with cutter teeth mounted at both the front and rear of the
robot. These drums counter rotate, one rotating clockwise
while the other rotates counterclockwise during excava-
tion. The robot is designed to both excavate and deliver the
extracted material. The drum rotations reverse to empty the
load once they have been filled and delivered to a process-
ing facility. The counter rotation configuration facilitates
operations in reduced gravity such as 1/6th G on the Moon
and micro-gravity on asteroids. By using this bucket drum
configuration, the robot pulls itself down onto the surface
being excavated. If a single rotating drum is used this would
tend to lift the rear portion of the robot and in micro-grav-
ity might end up “launching” the robot off the surface.
Break The Ice Lunar Challenge
NASA is also actively engaged in encouraging innovative
solutions to mining icy regolith on the Moon by hosting
the Break The Ice Lunar Challenge19 (BTIL). BTIL is one
of NASA’s Centennial Challenges, which is the highest level
of public competition hosted by the agency. A total prize
purse of $3.5 million is available to competing teams. BTIL
seeks to incentivize innovative approaches for excavating icy
regolith and delivering acquired resources in extreme lunar
Figure 8. Extraction process
Figure 9. RASSOR excavator