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Lunarport: Lunarport:

A Launch Launch and and Supply Supply St Station ion fo for Deep Deep Space Space Mi Missions ns

Danielle DeLatte & Sophia Casanova

What is the Caltech Space Challenge?

LUNARPORT

LUNARPORT

• Design a launch and supply station for deep

space missions

• Extract water resources from the Lunar

poles

• Budget – 1 billion/year
• Autonomous/remote construction and
• peration

Lunar South Pole Ice

LRO Diviner South Pole Temperature Map (Credit: NASA/JPL)

Days of sunlight over a month (Sanders 2016) Net DTE visibility over a month (Sanders 2016)

Key Operational Considerations

• Stable surface (near subsurface)

ice resources located in permanently shadowed regions (PSRs) – temperatures < 100 K

• Limited sunlight
• Limited direct to Earth (DTE)

communication

Team Voyager Team Explorer

The Teams Proposals

Team Voyager – Mining Operations

Team Voyager – Base and Mining Site Design Team Voyager – Overall Mission Timeline Production Requirements: ‐ 2028 ‐ Produce 45.2 t of water – technical demonstration ‐ 2032 ‐ Produce 700 t of water (2 Cargo missions to Mars) ‐ 2034 ‐ Produce 175 t of water (Crewed mission to Mars)

Example of a mining rover in action

Team Voyager – Mission Design

Team Voyager ‐ Lunar Resupply Shuttle (LRS) Timeline Operational Requirements: ‐ LRS transports resources from the lunar surface to cis‐lunar space (L1) ‐ Depot receives water from the LRS and converts to LO2 and LH2 through electrolysis ‐ Depot provides docking capability for customer spacecraft

Team Voyager – Mission Design

Team Voyager – Mission Design Operational Requirements: ‐ LRS transports resources from the lunar surface to cis‐lunar space (L1) ‐ Depot receives water from the LRS and converts to LO2 and LH2 through electrolysis ‐ Depot provides docking capability for customer spacecraft

Key Trades for Team Voyager

• Site selection
• Power production
• Mining operations and

equipment design

• Maintenance
• Modularity
• Location and methods of

transfer, propellant processing and storage

Team Explorer – Concept of Operations

Operations: ‐ Four launches deliver the power station, mining rovers, and processing unit to the lunar surface ‐ Bases in three locations (two rim stations for power, one for mining) ‐ Fuel is launched to LLO ‐ Rendezvous with Mars missions

Team Explorer – Concept of Operations

Operations: ‐ Four launches deliver the power station, mining rovers, and processing unit to the lunar surface ‐ Bases in three locations (two rim stations for power, one for mining) ‐ Fuel is launched to LLO ‐ Rendezvous with Mars missions

Paige+ 2010 NASA

Cabeus Crater: the only Lunar location with verified H2O in minable quantities

Team Explorer – Location

Left: Slopes, Right: Elevation (‐4 ‐> +4 km), 500 m contour

Team Explorer – Mining Operations

Bases: ‐ Two power stations will be set up to beam power to the rovers from the crater rim ‐ Between the two rim power stations, full power coverage for all of the rovers is available. ‐ Mining operations take place in the permanently shadowed region near (but not too near) the LCROSS impact that verified the existence of water on the moon

Key Trades

• Rendezvous orbit
• Location of mining operations
• Storage
• Maintenance
• Power production
• Economics/sustainability
• Future human mission‐

friendly

People Development

Team Explorer Team Voyager

Global Context

Credits (from top right, then clockwise): ESA, ispace, Moon Express, SpaceX

Summary

• Power, economics, and communication were key challenges
• Geological uncertainty with water content
• Desire to act as catalyst for other missions and be future friendly
• More information:
• 10th IAA Symposium on the Future Of Space Exploration: Towards The Moon Village And Beyond, June

27‐29th 2017. ”Lunarport Concept ‐ A Launch And Supply Station For Deep Space Missions: A Comparative Study Of The Two Concepts Developed At The 2017 Caltech Space Challenge”

• The Conversation (online magazine), May 15, 2017. “Mining the Moon for Rocket Fuel to Get Us to

Mars” https://theconversation.com/mining‐the‐moon‐for‐rocket‐fuel‐to‐get‐us‐to‐mars‐76123

• AIAA Space Forum 2017. ”2017 Caltech Space Challenge ‐ Lunarport: Lunar Extraction for

Extraterrestrial Prospecting (LEEP): Enabling Deep Space Exploration with an In‐Space Propellant Depot Supplied from Lunar Ice” Read More: https://arc.aiaa.org/doi/abs/10.2514/6.2017‐5375

• AIAA Space Forum 2017. “Enabling Deep Space Exploration with an In‐Space Propellant Depot

Supplied from Lunar Ice” Read More: https://arc.aiaa.org/doi/abs/10.2514/6.2017‐5376

• Caltech Space Challenge website for final reports, presentations, and videos:

http://www.spacechallenge.caltech.edu/final‐results

Thank Thank yo you to to the the or

• rganiz

nizers, participan participants, ts, and and spo sponso sors!

Similarities & Differences

Voyager Explorer Site Selection 500m NW of Shackleton Crater Cabeus Crater, permanently shadowed region Rovers Exploration (1), Building (2), Mining (16) Exploration (2) , Building (2), Mining (12) Mining operation design 3‐prospect site model, base located in sunlit region One initial site for mining, power beamed from two crater rim stations Propellant transfer (on lunar surface) Electrolysis for LRS on surface Transfer water to orbit depot Electrolysis for LRS on surface Transfer water to refuel in orbit Fuel stored in LRS vehicles Power Prospecting rover – Nuclear Base ‐ Solar Mining Rovers – Battery and Microwave beamer technology (wireless transfer) All rovers use solar power beamed from two crater rim stations Refueling clients (orbits, transfer method) L1 Depot – electrolysis in orbit LLO, low‐periapsis elliptical orbit around Earth, rendezvous with Mars mission’s spacecraft Modularity Module design – allows flexibility of design Module design – more launches/rovers can be added to increase production, good mission for Mars, GREAT for deep space missions