Leonardo da Vinci said. Water is by far the most versatile and most needed resource for human space exploration. It is the key commodity in life support systems as well as for cryogenic chemical rocket propellants.
The project goal is the development, integration and validation of lunar water extraction and purification technologies for in-situ propellant and consumables production for future space exploration. LUWEX will push the research and development of In-Situ Resource Utilization advancing the state-of-the- art.
Context
Sustainable space exploration requires the development of In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) technologies. ISRU encompasses all processes, which utilize locally available resources to generate products, which can be used for robotic and human exploration. Local resources include water, volatiles, metals, rocks, regolith, atmospheric constituents, but also waste products such as human trash and discarded hardware components. When technically mature and fully integrated into mission architectures, ISRU systems greatly decrease the required resupply from Earth and allow humanity to establish a permanent presence on Moon, Mars and in other locations of the solar system.
Among all available resources, water is, by far, the most versatile and most needed resource in space exploration.
Water can be easily stored and directly used as consumable for astronauts and is in fact the substance with the highest daily demand in human spaceflight. Radiation shielding for astronauts can also be designed using water as the radiation absorbing material. More importantly, water can be decomposed to hydrogen and oxygen using electrolysis, a well-developed technique.
Utilization option for water and its constituents, hydrogen, and oxygen
Hydrogen and Oxygen are, when liquefied, a very effective chemical propellant combination for rocket and spacecraft engines. Using the oxygen produced by electrolysis to supply breathing gas for astronauts is also a well-established procedure in human spaceflight and was already used in various spacecraft (e.g. Space Shuttle). Hydrogen is a great reactant for various chemical reactions, among which are the reduction of oxide minerals found in Lunar and Martian regolith to produce e.g. water, metals, silicon compounds and the reaction of carbon dioxide (e.g. exhaled from astronauts or extracted from the Martian atmosphere) to methane and water in a Sabatier reactor.
Lastly, Hydrogen and Oxygen can also be recombined to water in fuel cells, which produce electricity during this process. Consequently, finding, extracting, purifying and utilizing in-situ raw water would greatly benefit sustainable space exploration.
Approach
To test the system in the laboratory, a mix from water ice particles and lunar regolith simulant will substitute for real lunar sand as is expected to be found in some craters at the lunar south polar region.
By applying heat, the vaporizing water is extracted and collected. After liquefaction, the raw water is put through a purification process. The purified water is then ready for use in the form of propellant, for energy storage and for life support, or for a glass of Adam’s ale from the moon.
Project Objectives
Development of water extraction, purification, and quality monitoring technologies for an in-situ raw water process chain.
Designing and manufacturing an integrated validation test setup to provide a proper test environment as an essential preparatory activity for future space exploration.
Validation of in-situ raw water technologies in an integrated test setup in a laboratory environment.
Advancing the European excellence in space exploration by developing and validating leading edge in-situ resource utilization technologies.
Improving the interdisciplinary collaboration and leveraging synergies of industry, academia and institutional research within Europe.
Timeline of research and innovation of leading-edge ISRU technologies
excellent science for space exploration of the Moon, and supporting the development of the European space sector
