Water Extraction System for the Moon, Mars, and Asteroids

Transcription

1 Water Extraction System for the Moon, Mars, and Asteroids Kris Zacny, PhD Visit: Off Earth Mining Forum February

2 Honeybee Robotics Overview Honeybee Develops Products & Technology for Advanced Robotic & Spacecraft Systems Founded 1983, Privately Owned, Small Business Aerospace, Defense and Commercial Industries Systems to Components End-to-End Capability ISO9001 / AS9100 Certified New York City, Denver, Pasadena Client Focus Teamwork Continuous Improvement K. Zacny, Honeybee Robotics. 2

3 Why do we have gas stations? K. Zacny, Honeybee Robotics. 3

4 Why not a Fuel Depo around the Earth? K. Zacny, Honeybee Robotics. 4

5 Water is Everywhere! Water for human consumption Radiation protection Fuel LOX/H2 5

6 Mars Courtesy NASA Courtesy NASA Courtesy NASA Byrne,

7 Moon 3M tons of water just in Cabeus crater 1976: Soviet Luna-24 sample-return. Water made up 0.1% sample's mass. (Geokhimiia, 1978) 1994: Clementine mission 1999: Lunar Prospector 2009: Chandrayaan-I 2009: LRO/LCROSS bp.blogspot.com/_bxtgo1ftfa4/sr1pfiqckji/aaaaaaaaab0/dbf7pwxa1wi/s320/moonwatermap+nasa.jpg

8 Asteroids Water Ice Discovered on Asteroid for First Time by Clara Moskowitz, SPACE.com Senior Writer Date: 28 April 2010 Time: 01:03 PM ET Asteroid 24 Themis and two small fragments that orbit with it. One of the small fragments is inert (as most asteroids are) and the other has a comet-like tail, produced by the sublimation of water ice from its surface. CREDIT: Gabriel Pérez, Servicio MultiMedia, Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias, Tenerife, Spain Water on The Moon, II. Origins & Resources (by Arlin Crotts) 8

9 How to Mine Water-Ice? 9

10 Arctic and Antarctic 10

11 Devon Island, Arctic Ice from liquid water 11

12 Dry Valleys, Antarctica Vapor Deposited Ice Elevation: 1709 m Desert Pavement Dessication layer* Ice cemented ground 12

13 Saturated JSC-1a at -20C 4.5 J/blow 1800 bpm >3000 Newton 13

14 Where diggers fail, drill works 14

15 Drilling in the Arctic 15

16 Drilling In the Antarctic Drilling Data ( ): Power: ~ 70 Watt Time to 1 m: 54 min Weight on Bit: < 70 N Drill Energy: 63 Whr T Bit : -5 C (T Ground -19 C) Ice saturated cuttings behave as dry particles when kept frozen 16

17 Drilling in JSC-1a 17

18 Drilling in Vacuum in Ice Drilling power --> heat --> latent heat --> sublimation Volumetric expansion of ice vapor 1000 s x Mars Moon / Asteroids 18

19 Test in vacuum chamber 1m depth in 3.5m chamber Tests in ice (w and w/out perchlorate) icy-soil rock 19

20 Two Approaches 1. Bring icy-regolith to the reactor 2. Bring the reactor to the icy-regolith

21 Operation: Steps 1-4 Auger Sleeve and Auger Z-Axis Winch Actuators Auger Sleeve Auger

22 Operation: Steps 5-8

23 Why not extracting from a hole? Heat loss Risk of drill freeze-in Difficult to control (vapor pressure build up, melting) K ice = 3 W/mK 23

24 Experimental Setup P, T Heater P, T P, T Icy-soil Cold finger Canister P, T Soil 24

25 Experimental Setup Pressure Transducer #3 Cold Trap Pressure Transducers #1 & 2 Preload bracket JSC-1A (leaky seal) Auger & Reactor Heating Element

26 Water Extraction Note decreasing condensation inside tube as test progresses 26 3/4/2013

27 Result Icy soil (6 and 12 wt%) Water Dry soil (0.3 wt%) 27 3/4/2013

28 Temperature & Pressure Plot 28 3/4/2013

29 Asteroid Water Extractor Combines anchoring and water extraction system 29 3/4/2013

30 Bracing effect of the 4 Anchors 30

31 Asteroid Anchor Before Deployment Rotating deep flute auger Engages dust, soil, small rocks Stationary Fins Engages larger surface area of dust layer (plough-like system) After Deployment Rotating Sharp Tip Engages micro-holes and surface features 31

32 Final Design: T. Jones s Amore Jones et al. (LPSC 42, #2695, 2011) 32

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34 Conclusions Water extracted efficiency of 92% Energy efficiency ~80%. The power/duration dwell time affect efficiency. Soil temperature used to monitor the drying cycle. Temperature increases indicate the soil is dry. Soil can contain corrosive or toxic substances (danger to humans, corroding pipes) sublimating and re-condensing ensures clean water 34

35 References Y. Bar-Cohen and K. Zacny (Eds.) Drilling in Extreme Environments - Penetration and Sampling on Earth and Other Planets K. Zacny and Y. Bar-Cohen, Drilling and excavation for construction and in situ resource utilization, Chapter 15 in V. Badescu (Ed.), Mars: Prospective Energy and Material Resources, K. Zacny, Drilling and excavation for construction and in situ resource utilization, Chapter 15 in V. Badescu (Ed.), Moon: Prospective Energy and Material Resources, Asteroids K. Zacny, Honeybee Robotics. 35