# Questions tagged [isru]

In situ resource utilization aims to exploit materials found in the lithosphere and atmosphere of planetary bodies for life support, propulsion, and other functions of interplanetary missions.

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### How does SpaceX plan to supply or recycle respiratory gasses?

If Starship carries 100 passengers to Mars, they will consume about 6 metric tons of oxygen and produce about 10 tons of CO2 on each leg of the trip. Much more if they exercise. CO2 could be converted ...
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### Would it be advantageous to uncover the subsurface ice in the only two regions on Mars where water can flow downhill in summertime?

The image above is a screenshot from a part of NASA's Treasure Map for Water Ice on Mars. Within 'the only two regions' I mean the uppermost parts of the two coloured extensions to the north into the ...
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### How much mass do we need to send to the Moon to set up a useful factory there? [closed]

In light of SpaceX's recently winning the contract to go to the moon for NASA, I started thinking (again) about what avenues sending a rocket that size might open in our near-future. So let's assume ...
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### How much electrical energy is required to dissipate heat?

I'm modeling the electrical energy consumption of a chemical reactor for the Moon base. The reaction taking place in this reactor is highly exothermic, and the device must be cooled. My question is ...
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### Has trebuchet-based materials transport on the Moon been researched before?

I am participating in a design competition based on lunar In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU). A key component of this design is transporting regolith-mined water from a water extractor in a ...
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### Scientific value and feasibility of a local Martian weather experiment by uncovering the near surface ice in Nier crater?

From NASA's Treasure Map for Water Ice on Mars: "You wouldn't need a backhoe to dig up this ice. You could use a shovel," said the paper's lead author, Sylvain Piqueux of NASA's Jet ...
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### Viability of beamed regolith propulsion?

This question is inspired by two existing spacecraft propulsion concepts. Beam-powered propulsion involves a spacecraft being propelled by a beam of some kind, and one potential type of beam would ...
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### Is there a specific reason why NASA put MOXIE on a rover?

MOXIE or The Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment is to be sent to Mars as a part of Perseverance's scientific payload. Sure the experiment is much needed and very anticipated, and ...
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### Compact ISRU for manufactured goods?

Most studies of ISRU focus on propellants, life support supplies, concrete, or other "bulk" materials (liquids, gases, granules). This makes sense, given that the majority of a typical ...
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### Sabatier reaction oxygen to methane ratio for Mars ascent propellant

The Sabatier reaction is as follows: $$\mathrm{CO_2 + 4\: H_2 \rightarrow CH_4 + 2\: H_2O}.$$ If water is electrolysed $$\mathrm{2\:H_2O \rightarrow 2\: H_2 + O_2}$$ the global reaction becomes ...
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### Mars Crewed Missions: Use of In-Situ Resource Utilisation (ISRU) for the Return Trip Propellant

From what I've read from NASA's Mars Design Reference Architecture (DRA) 5.0 and other articles, the use of ISRU for the ascent vehicle propellant is usually considered (be it atmospheric based, ...
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### Can a rocket refuel on Mars from water?

Can a rocket run only on hydrogen and oxygen? Could a rocket, rover, and electrolysis machine be sent to either of Mars' poles to excavate ice to make hydrogen and oxygen to refuel an unmanned rocket? ...
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### Low energy cements for Mars and Callisto. Waterless cement for the Moon. Any good candidates?

In the non-polar regions of the Moon and Mercury there is a shortage of volatiles, including hydrogen and nitrogen, so they might be regaded as too valuable to be "wasted" to prepare concrete. ...
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### How to size Solar Array for Mars Surface

Good morning everyone, I am working on a project for my university where we need to perform a PrePhase A study for a Mars Infrastructure for Propellant production as a means of support for future ...
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### Have there been any significant improvements to methods of transporting hydrogen to the surface of Mars in the last 10 years?

I have just been reading “Human missions to Mars: enabling technologies for the red planet” by Donald Rapp (Praxis publishing 2008). According to this book one major challenge facing a future manned ...
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### What's the scientific evidence of water for return trip methalox on Mars?

EDIT: I am not asking if you think finding water is necessary for a return flight. I'm asking for the scientific evidence that there is mineable water on Mars that could be used for this purpose. ...
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### Mining lunar thorium for building nuclear rockets on the Moon

Has there been any research on what lunar in-situ processes would have to be developed to mine and process thorium to build nuclear thermal rockets on the Moon?
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### What happens to Lunar (or asteroidal) regolith if sunlight is concentrated on it?

At 24:40 into this lecture, technology development scientist Laurent Sibille briefly describes an experiment done with a regolith simulant for Lunar Mare. The process of producing oxygen and reusing ...
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### How much fuel is being consumed by all spacecrafts in orbit?

It is possible to supply spacecrafts in orbit in cis-Lunar space with oxygen from fuel production facilities on the Moon or on asteroids. What is the size of this potential in-space oxygen market ...
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### How thick would a Marscrete structure need to be to provide adequate protection against radiation?

Regarding a manned shelter on the surface of Mars... With all of this esoteric talk of ice shelters, why not simply create concrete (Marscrete) buildings? The ice probably provides better radiation ...
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### Is unpurified martian ice/water safe for irrigation?

There are large amounts of ice underground on mars. Some are closer to the surface then others. Assuming this ice has been mined and is not safe for human consumption without purification, is it ...
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### Practical ice deposits on Mars?

Per JPL, Recent observations have discovered a resevoir of ice beneath the surface of mars. How practical, from an ISRU perspective, is this discovery? Frozen beneath a region of cracked and ...
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### Making propellants on Mars: Why not just LH2/LOX instead of methane?

In this cool video of a presentation about SpaceX's GPU-based computational fluid dynamics, there is a slide early on about making rocket fuel on Mars - specifically using water from the ground and ...
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### Back to oribt from Mars - how many km^2 yr of solar power to make enough propellant?

In this cool video of a presentation about SpaceX's GPU-based computational fluid dynamics, there is a slide early on about making rocket fuel on Mars - specifically using water from the ground and ...
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### How much land does a colony on Mars need to start off?

Assume that we need just the following Martian resources for our colony: O2 N2 H2O Regolith for radiation shielding Regolith for construction Regolith for printing tools Martian compounds for rocket ...
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### What specific impulse can I expect from iron powder produced from lunar regolith?

Getting rocket propellant from other sources than Earth is by many viewed as an important step towards further exploration of space. One such source could be our closest neighbour, the Moon. The ...
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### Are there proper ore bodies in Mars' crust?

It is my understanding that asteroids vaporize on impact and spread evenly over some area. An iron rich asteroid does not deposit an iron ore and there are no real ore bodies on the Moon. But had they ...
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### Is Mars iron too oxidized to pick up with a magnet?

How much iron would a magnet pick up on the surface of Mars? Would it be rich in iron particles like going to a playground on earth? Would it be clean enough to take to a refinery and melt down, or ...
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### Mining construction materials and other resources on Mars

The year is 2036 and humanity has established a colony on Mars. There's hundreds of people there, more coming every two years, and now it's time to make the colony self-sustaining. Now the question ...
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### How to produce oxygen out of Venusian atmosphere's carbon dioxide?

What are the possible methods of in-situ extraction of oxygen from the atmosphere of Venus, which is mostly carbon dioxide?
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### Which heavenly bodies have stuff to make rocket fuel?

Which planets or large moons of our solar system are currently known to have the raw materials needed for us to produce rocket fuel? Mars, for example, has plentiful CO₂, and we know how to produce ...
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### Collecting antimatter from Van Allen radiation belts

I just read an article by John P. Millis, Ph.D which says that antimatter is created in the Van Allen radiation belts. I am writing a novel where a future starship with FTL capability, powered by a ...
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### What is the minimum amount of equipment you would need to make a reasonable amount of oxygen on the Moon with Molten Oxide Electrolysis?

MIT Professor Sadoway believes we can make oxygen anywhere on the moon with Molten Oxide Electrolysis (see here and here). Let's assume that you need to make enough oxygen to sustain an astronaut for ...
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### Is the Hybrid sulfur cycle a good way of making hydrogen and oxygen on Venus?

Assuming we collect Sulfuric acid from Venus clouds using some sort of airship, what would be the best way of turning this into hydrogen and oxygen? I came across something called the Hybrid sulfur ...
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### How much iron is on the surface of Mars?

It's (relatively) common knowledge that Mars is known as the "Red Planet" because of an abundance of iron oxide, AKA rust, on its surface. At first glance, that looks like "iron, iron, everywhere." ...
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### Is production of methane possible on Mars?

${CO_2}$ is plentiful in Martian atmosphere. $H_2$ can be produced on Mars using sunlight and can be reacted with $CO_2$ to form $H_2O+C$, or $CH_4+H_2O$. Is it a feasible chemical reaction?
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### Are NMAs (Near Mars Asteroids) common and useful for exploration?

Thousands of NEAs have been observed out of estimated 285,000 larger than 40 meters. A handful of Martian trojans have been found, but should there be more or fewer NMAs than NEAs? NEAs can become ...
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### Should we use Mars as the main source of interplanetary fuel? [closed]

Robert Zubrin makes a compelling case for using Mars as a site to make methane fuel for the return trip back to Earth. However, maybe there is an additional refinement to this model; In addition to ...
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### What useful materials can be extracted from Venusian atmosphere?

Consider a cloud-top colony on Venus. What materials needed for the upkeep and expanding of the colony can be taken from Venusian atmosphere, excluding any possibility of mining the surface?
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### Manufacturing solar cells on the Moon

How practical is it to manufacture solar cells on the Moon? I understand there is a lot of silica there, and in theory if we could robotically make and deploy solar cells on the Moon, then we would (...
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### Would it be practical to use a rover with a cable to a power and communication station?

Geology Dr. Paul Spudis (who was on the Clementine Lunar orbiter mission) has an interesting step-by-step proposal for exploration of potentially extractable water ice at the Lunar poles. It includes ...
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### How feasible is it to use aluminum and liquid oxygen as future propellant sourced from the moon?

I was looking into whether there would be any way to source propellants from the moon itself in support of a future base and space stations in cis-lunar space. I found two documents exploring how ...
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### "Lunar vacuum cleaner": Design considerations for regolith dust suction system in exospheric conditions

Background: While watching SSERVI Director’s Seminar Series: RIS4E (Science and Exploration of the Moon, Near Earth Asteroids, the Moons of Mars enabled by the Remote In Situ and Synchrotron Studies ...
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### How do you 'make oxygen' on Mars?

This morning's BBC News says that a 2020 rover mission to Mars will "make oxygen". There is a brief line indication that it will extract it from atmospheric CO₂, but no other details. What process ...
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### Why didn't Apollo land on the Lunar poles?

Finding water in some craters on the Lunar poles is a recent discovery. Was this expected during the Apollo era? Even without any thoughts about future in situ resource utilization, landing at a ...
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### Electrolysis Production Rate

Given the interest in using lunar water for propellant manufacture, how do you calculate the production rate for electrolytic breakdown and liquefaction of water into cryogens? A corollary question ...
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### Where should a lunar polar ISRU mission land?

In situ resource utilization of water ice in eternally shadowed craters on the Moon's poles might provide water for rocket fuel and astronaut survivability cheaper compared to launching water from ...