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Mineral Processing on the Moon
Xiaochen Zhang, Kathryn Hadler
European Space Resources Innovation Centre, Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology, Luxembourg
ABSTRACT: Space exploration is big news, and the Moon is currently the focus of much international
attention. Many space agencies and private companies are looking for resources such as water to support a
new lunar economy. Mineral processing, as on Earth, plays an important role in this future vision, and there is
an increasing wealth of new and exciting concepts in beneficiation for lunar dust. In this paper, we show how
the role of mineral processing has evolved from Earth to space, and new initiatives to support the design of
technology faced with significant uncertainty.
INTRODUCTION
For humans to travel further and for longer in space requires
the development of systems to support transportation,
energy supply and provision of resources. The extraction
and use of resources found in space to sustain human life
and fuel spacecraft will be a transformative point in human
history.
The use of space resources is not a new concept. At the
time of the Apollo lunar landings by NASA, media articles
were published proposing that the Moon be used as a refu-
elling station. In the subsequent 50 years, the concept has
grown in maturity, with many terrestrial studies to design
and test possible technologies, notably the NASA studies
of the early 21st Century (Sanders &Larson, 2013). This
concept is known as InSitu Resource Utilisation (ISRU).
In recent years, there has been renewed global interest,
matched by increased research activity, in:
• Producing oxygen on the Moon and Mars (e.g., K.A.
Lee et al., 2013 Schwandt et al., 2012)
• Extracting water ice from permanently shadowed
regions on the Moon (e.g., Kornuta et al., 2019
Cannon &Britt, 2020)
• Extracting metals on the Moon (e.g., Lomax et al.,
2020)
• Manufacturing using extracted resources, e.g., metals
(e.g., Baasch et al., 2021)
• Constructing landing pads and other infrastructure
(e.g., Kalapodis et al., 2020 T.S. Lee et al., 2015)
• Constructing habitation, including by additive man-
ufacturing (e.g., Goulas et al., 2017)
Within each of the above space resource extraction and
use cases, several different processes or approaches have
been proposed. For example, in the construction of landing
pads, concepts based on polymer spray, sintering and berms
have all been put forward. The extraction of water ice on
the Moon is the focus of significant attention at present,
particularly by NASA, as a potential low-energy method
of extracting water for fuel and life support. There are
many open scientific questions associated with this target
resource, including the quantity and form of the water ice,
e.g., discrete ice particles, coating on regolith (Cannon &
Britt, 2020). The potential size of this resource is an impor-
tant driver for future lunar operations, and current activity
is focused on the lunar South Pole to characterise and assess
its suitability.
Mineral Processing on the Moon
Xiaochen Zhang, Kathryn Hadler
European Space Resources Innovation Centre, Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology, Luxembourg
ABSTRACT: Space exploration is big news, and the Moon is currently the focus of much international
attention. Many space agencies and private companies are looking for resources such as water to support a
new lunar economy. Mineral processing, as on Earth, plays an important role in this future vision, and there is
an increasing wealth of new and exciting concepts in beneficiation for lunar dust. In this paper, we show how
the role of mineral processing has evolved from Earth to space, and new initiatives to support the design of
technology faced with significant uncertainty.
INTRODUCTION
For humans to travel further and for longer in space requires
the development of systems to support transportation,
energy supply and provision of resources. The extraction
and use of resources found in space to sustain human life
and fuel spacecraft will be a transformative point in human
history.
The use of space resources is not a new concept. At the
time of the Apollo lunar landings by NASA, media articles
were published proposing that the Moon be used as a refu-
elling station. In the subsequent 50 years, the concept has
grown in maturity, with many terrestrial studies to design
and test possible technologies, notably the NASA studies
of the early 21st Century (Sanders &Larson, 2013). This
concept is known as InSitu Resource Utilisation (ISRU).
In recent years, there has been renewed global interest,
matched by increased research activity, in:
• Producing oxygen on the Moon and Mars (e.g., K.A.
Lee et al., 2013 Schwandt et al., 2012)
• Extracting water ice from permanently shadowed
regions on the Moon (e.g., Kornuta et al., 2019
Cannon &Britt, 2020)
• Extracting metals on the Moon (e.g., Lomax et al.,
2020)
• Manufacturing using extracted resources, e.g., metals
(e.g., Baasch et al., 2021)
• Constructing landing pads and other infrastructure
(e.g., Kalapodis et al., 2020 T.S. Lee et al., 2015)
• Constructing habitation, including by additive man-
ufacturing (e.g., Goulas et al., 2017)
Within each of the above space resource extraction and
use cases, several different processes or approaches have
been proposed. For example, in the construction of landing
pads, concepts based on polymer spray, sintering and berms
have all been put forward. The extraction of water ice on
the Moon is the focus of significant attention at present,
particularly by NASA, as a potential low-energy method
of extracting water for fuel and life support. There are
many open scientific questions associated with this target
resource, including the quantity and form of the water ice,
e.g., discrete ice particles, coating on regolith (Cannon &
Britt, 2020). The potential size of this resource is an impor-
tant driver for future lunar operations, and current activity
is focused on the lunar South Pole to characterise and assess
its suitability.