ISRU - From Concept to Reality: NASA Accomplishments and Future Plans

Development and test of a Lunar Excavation and Size Separation System (LES3) for the LUVMI‐X rover platform

“…However, it is imperative not to rely on constant supply missions from Earth to enable a permanent human presence on the lunar surface as well as to develop technologies that can enable humankind's advance further into the Solar System (Ishimatsu et al, 2016). Using the locally available resources, referred to as in‐situ resource utilisation (ISRU), is considered to be a crucial factor in achieving this aim (Anand et al, 2012; Carpenter et al, 2016; Crawford, 2015; Ellery, 2018; Larson et al, 2011; Lavoie & Spudis, 2016; Linne et al, 2015; Sacksteder & Sanders, 2007; Sanders, 2011; Sanders et al, 2008, 2010; Spudis & Lavoie, 2011). In the case of the Moon, the lunar soil (i.e., the surficial regolith) has proven to be a potentially viable feedstock for additive manufacturing and sintering processes (Balla et al, 2012; Cesaretti et al, 2014; Fateri & Gebhardt, 2015; Fateri et al, 2013; Goulas & Friel, 2016; Goulas et al, 2017, 2019; Labeaga‐Martínez et al, 2017; Meurisse et al, 2017, 2018; Taylor et al, 2018), oxygen extraction (Balasubramaniam et al, 2010; Lomax et al, 2020; Sargeant et al, 2020; Schlüter & Cowley, 2020), as well as construction purposes (Hintze & Quintana, 2013; Lim et al, 2017; Raju et al, 2014; Sik Lee et al, 2015; Toutanji et al, 2005; Werkheser et al, 2015).…”